A Diamond in the Sky
by She Who Cannot Be Turned
Summary: Six year old Harry hears a nursery rhyme and makes a wish, causing him to disappear for ten years. When he returns he's a little different from when he left. For one thing he's not exactly human anymore... Slash CWHP
1. Chapter 1

A Diamond in the Sky

_A Diamond in the Sky_

Summary: _Six year old Harry hears a nursery rhyme and makes a wish causing him to disappear for ten years._

_When he returns, he's somewhat different to what was expected... For one thing, he's not exactly a human anymore. Slash._

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you see... I doubt I own the plot either... **

Chapter One

_Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,_

_How I wonder what you are_

_Up above the world so high_

_Like a diamond in the sky_

_Twinkle, twinkle little star,_

_How I wonder what you are..._

A small boy with black hair and large green eyes listened to the song being sung from the bedroom upstairs through the open window. He was currently digging up the weeds in the back gardens and had been told that he wouldn't be allowed back into the house unless he had finished. That ha been five hours ago, and he was no where near finishing.

He looked up to the window that the song was coming from and sighed. Then grabbed a particularly stubborn weed and tugged. It came out of the ground suddenly, making the boy stumble backwards and lie on his back on the grass, staring up at the sky.

"I wonder if the stars listen when people sing about them." He thought, before slowly stood back up, brushed his clothes down and then went about finishing off his chores, knowing that he wouldn't get to sleep in his cupboard under the stairs.

He sighed again and then looked back up at the stars, a particularly bright one catching his eye and making him trace out the pattern it made with the other stars.

"I wish I could be like a diamond in the sky. People like diamonds. Myabe then, they would like me." And with that innocent wish, he disappeared.

The thirty-first of July 1986 would mark the last day that anyone ever saw or heard of Harry Potter again.

The wizarding world wouldn't find out until five years later, when he never responded to his Hogwarts letter. The Dursley family having long left the house they lived in with the 'Freak'

**A/N – Well I'm back!! Okay, so this I something that came to me the other night. For those of you that read my livejournal, then the Greys Anatomy one will be up in a while, I just needed to get this out, if you know what I mean? Plot bunny from hell this one... Kinda rabid...**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer – The usual, I don't own anything here

**Disclaimer – The usual, I don't own anything here... Possibly including the plot in that one... shrugs**

Chapter Two 

Dumbledore frowned when the fifth letter he had sent to Harry Potter at Privit Drive had been returned again, just like the previous four before it. Obviously, the boy wasn't getting his letter, or maybe the family had moved. He certainly hoped not. Maybe he should have asked Arabella to move into the street to keep an eye on him after all.

Oh well, he would just have to take a visit to the house himself and see what the problem was. Perhaps it was as simple as Harry not understanding what the wizarding world was. After all, he had sent the boy there in order for him to be away from the magical world and not to be disturbed by it.

Dumbledore wrote out a note to two of his professors and sent it with his Phoenix familiar, Fawkes. Then he sat and waited. And ate a couple of lemon drops.

When someone finally knocked on the door to his office, he had made his way through half the bowl and was seriously considering whether he would need to go out and buy another bag soon.

"Come in Severus, Minerva." Dumbledore said, popping another lemon drop in his mouth and glancing at Fawkes as he appeared again, grooming himself.

"Albus, what did you want to see us for? I have to check the timetables to make sure that they don't overlap." Minerva asked, walking over and taking a seat, Severus following closely behind.

"Ah, well there seems to be a problem with one of the upcoming first years and their letter." Dumbledore said, offering the bowl of lemon drops to the two professors, and being politely refused.

"Which student Professor?" Severus asked, beginning to develop a sinking feeling in his stomach that he already knew the answer.

"Ah, well it is young Mr Potter." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling at the groan that answer drew from the resident Potions Master.

"Ad why do you need me sir? I have important potions that need to be brewed before the new school year." Severus drawled, leaning back in his seat and gaining a glare form Minerva in the process.

"Well I was wondering if you two would be so kind as to take a short break from your schedules and visit Mr. Potter to perhaps see why his letter kept being returned. I can only assume that he thought it was a joke perhaps."

"Were you not going to get someone form the order to watch over the house he lived in? Could you not get them to see if he is alright?" Minerva asked.

"Ah, well I decided against getting Arabella to watch over the house in the end. I'm not entirely sure why. In any case, it is too late now to worry, will you both please do as I ask?"

"Why not go yourself?" Severus asked, ignoring the disapproving muttering coming from Minerva.

"Well I would, but I have a meeting with the minister today and I feel the need for Harry to get his letter as soon as possible. It is his birthday today and the school year starts in a months time."

"In that case Albus, I suppose we both shall head off to get Mr Potter and take him to Diagon Alley. We will come back later to tell you why he never responded."

"Thank you Minerva. Well I shall take my leave and go and see what the minister wants today. Please do hurry back with news." Albus said, standing up and walking over to Fawkes. "Oh, here is a portkey to the Mr Potter's current residence."

Minerva took the yellow sock from Albus, looking at it with distaste and then handing it over to Severus, who rolled his eyes and held it to his side. "Thank you Albus."

"The password is Lily." Albus said, before holding his arm out for Fawkes to walk on and disappearing in a flash of flames.

"I swear that man deliberately adds the flames to make a dramatic exit." Severus drawled, looking at where the headmaster had been standing. Minerva glanced at him in amusement and then grabbed the sock along with him. "Lily." And together they disappeared from the headmasters office.

--

Severus looked up at the house in front of him in disgust. Number four Privet Drive looked exactly the same as number three, and two and every other house on the street and it made Severus feel nauseous.

"This is it? This is where the Potter brat lives?" Severus asked, turning to look at Minerva and noticing a similar look of disgust on her face.

"Yes, this is where we left him almost ten years ago." Minerva said, shaking her head in disgust. "Shall we?"

Severus nodded and led the way up the drive to the front door. He knocked once he was certain Minerva was behind him and waited for the door to be answered.

The door opened to reveal a young woman with blonde curly hair and a small dark haired baby on her hip.

"Hello? Can I help?" She asked, looking at Severus and the way he was dressed and then glancing at Minerva behind him.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak to Mr Potter." Severus said curtly yet managing to somehow keep the sneer out of his voice for once.

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong address, there is no one here by that name." The woman said with a smile, before shushing the fussing baby.

"I'm sorry, are you not Mrs Dursley?" Minerva asked, moving forward to stand next to Severus.

"No, I'm afraid not. Sorry. I'm Sonia Maxwell. I'm afraid I don't know any Dursley's either." The woman, Sonia, said.

"May I ask, how long have to lived here?" Severus asked, a funny feeling beginning to form in his stomach again.

"Oh, well it must be nearly five years. Yes, five years in October."

"Ah, then I am afraid we do have the wrong address, it would seem we need to update our address book. Sorry to be a bother. Good day." Severus said, and walked back down the drive, Minerva following closely behind, once the door had closed.

"What shall we do now?" Severus asked once they had moved far enough away to be able to apparate safely.

"We must go to the Ministry to inform Albus. A search for Mr Potter and his family will have to take place." Minerva said before disappearing again with a sharp pop.

Severus rolled his eyes and disappeared as well, after muttering to himself. "Damn Potter brat, he hasn't even started Hogwarts and yet he is already causing trouble."

--

Minerva quickly walked through the halls of the Ministry, making her way to the office of the Minister, where she would hopefully find Dumbledore. She was, however, quickly stopper upon approaching the office, by the Ministers secretary.

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked politely, though the tone of her voice suggested that she was somewhat bored.

"No, I need to see both the Minister and Albus Dumbledore as soon as possible." Minerva said, hoping to get the urgency across in her voice.

"I'm afraid they are both busy at the moment. Shall I tell them you came to see them? Perhaps you could make an appointment with the Minister for another day. I'm sure you could also make a separate appointment to see Professor Dumbledore as well." Obviously, the secretary took no note of the urgency, or ignored it.

"I work with Albus, you silly fool of a girl. Tell them both that Minerva McGonagall is outside and wishes to speak with them immediately."

"I was told not to interrupt the Minister today, no matter what."

"I think, considering the news I have, that the Minister will let you off just this once." Minerva said, beginning to loose her temper with the girl.

"Okay. If you would wait here, I will go and see if they will see you." The secretary smiled brightly and then stood up and walked to the door behind her and went through it.

A minute or so later, she walked back out with a bright smile on her face and walked over to Minerva. "The Minister says to let you in. Have a nice day!" She said, widening her smile to almost impossible lengths and making Minerva's mouth ache just watching.

Minerva nodded to the Secretary and then walked through the door to the Ministers office, closing the door behind her.

"Minerva my dear girl, what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you so soon?" Dumbledore asked with a smile and a twinkle.

"Albus, Minister, it is Potter. I'm afraid I have some bad news." Minerva said, walking further into the room to stand in front of both men.

"Mr Potter? What has happened to the Boy Who Lived?" The minister asked, panic lacing his voice. Dumbledore looked at Minerva in concern.

"Where is Severus? What has happened to Harry?"

"I have no idea where Severus has disappeared off to. I assume he went back to Hogwarts. As for Mr Potter, it would seem that he and his family moved about five years ago."

"You mean to say that we have no idea where Mr Potter is? Did you not send him his letter?" The minister asked, looking at Minerva and then back to Dumbledore.

"I did send him his letter personally, however I did not think to use the normal quill, as I knew his address. Or I thought I did." Dumbledore said, shaking his head.

"Then all we have to do is use the quill? It will tell us the address of Mr Potter." The minister said brightly.

"In theory, that is correct Cornelius. Shall we all head to Hogwarts, where we can see if it will work. I doubt that he has left the country." Dumbledore said as he stood up, gathering his luminous orange robes around him so that he didn't stand on the hems. Minerva pursed her lips and followed Dumbledore as he walked out of the office, with Cornelius Fudge following closely behind.

--

The trio made their way through the many halls of Hogwarts, towards the office of Minerva McGonagall, where the quill which was charmed to know the address of all future students was kept.

"So do we tell it who we want to find or does it already know?" Fudge asked, a tinge of excitement showing in his voice.

Minerva rolled her eyes as she lead the way to her office, and then allowed the two men to enter before her, then following them in and closing the door behind her. "I'm afraid it is not as _magical_ as that, Minister." Minerva said, stressing the word magical and making the Minister blush.

"Then how does it work?"

"I write the name of the student I wish to address the letter to, and then it does the rest." Minerva said, picking up an eagle feather quill and writing down on an envelope, the name of Harry Potter.

Minerva quickly let go of the quill and all three in the room held their breath as the quill slowly started to write. Then stopped after only writing a couple of words.

"Well? What does it say?" Fudge asked impatiently. Minerva picked up the envelope and then frowned.

"What is wrong Minerva?"

"It only says one thing. It says his current address is unknown. What does that mean Albus?" Minerva asked, looking up from the envelope and passing it over for the headmaster to see.

"I am afraid I do not know. Try writing down Petunia Dursley. It may only work for magical people, and not muggles, but it is the only chance we have of finding out his address."

Minerva nodded and then wrote down Petunia's name, letting go of the quill as soon as she had finished and watching as it wrote out an address.

"It says the Dursley's are currently living in Derbyshire. In Matlock. Shall we go and see what has happened to Harry and why his address will not show?" Minerva asked, once again handing the envelope over to Dumbledore so that he could read it.

"Indeed we shall Minerva. Indeed we shall. Will you be joining us Cornelius?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the flustered Minister.

"Of course. The most important figure of recent history is missing. Or course I shall come with ou to find out where he is." Cornelius said pompously, making Minerva's lips twitch as she tried to suppress a grin.

--

The three wizards, two of which were still wondering where Severus had gotten to, walked up a path to a small cottage like house in Matlock, the apparent current address of the Dursley's. Dumbledore knocked on the door and then waited for someone to answer. They didn't have to wait long.

A woman with mousy blonde hair and an abnormally long neck answered the door, took one look at who was standing on her doorstep and then quickly shut the door with a terrified squeak.

"It would seem she knew who we are." Dumbledore said with no little amount of bemusement colouring his voice. He knocked on the door again, this time a little more forcefully.

Once again the same woman opened the door, this time not shutting it immediately. She swallowed loudly and then stepped outside and glared at the three standing in front of her.

"What do you lot want?"

"We wish to speak to Mr Potter, if that would not be too much to ask." Dumbledore said politely, smiling at her, eyes twinkling madly.

"Then I am afraid you are too late. He ran off five years ago, ungrateful little wretch. Now go away and don't come back. We don't want anything to do with your kind." Petunia said, angrily glaring at the trio.

"Now see here! I am Minister of Magic. I demand you tell me where Mr Potter is!"

"I don't know. As I said, he ran off five years ago and never returned. We moved shortly after when we found a buyer for the house."

"Did you not think to look for him?" Minerva asked, pursing her lips.

"No. Good riddance to the little nuisance. I didn't want to take him in in the first place. You lot left him on my doorstep and now you have lost him. It is not my problem and ceased being so five years ago. Now please leave before anyone sees you." Petunia said, slamming the door shut in their faces.

"What shall we do Dumbledore? The people will panic if they find out that our saviour is missing. What shall I tell people?" Fudge asked, panic beginning to seep through into his words and actions.

"We shall simply have to tell them the truth, that Harry Potter has disappeared, assumed dead."

"_Assumed dead_!! What do you mean by that? Sine when did we come up with that decision?" Fudge shrieked.

"A six year old boy can not be expected to survive for long on his own, with no where to stay and nothing to eat. We shall continue to search for him, however I believe that it will all be in vain." Dumbledore said, twinkle disappearing from his eyes.

--

September came and with it, came the announcement in the newspaper, _The Daily Prophet_, that Harry Potter has gone missing and that they were assuming the worst had happened.

That year, the year that Harry was supposed to be a first year student at Hogwarts, several things happened. One major even was someone almost trying to steal the Philosophers Stone, which had been left in Hogwarts for protection. It was only the ingenious traps set by the teachers that prevented it. The stone being left inside of the Mirror of Erised until such a time that Dumbledore felt it was safe to remove it and return it to it's rightful owner, Nicholas Flamel.

Another even happened, though this one slightly more worrying for the people outside of Hogwarts as well. The day that it was announced that Harry Potter was missing, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, fuelling many rumours as to why.

At the beginning of what should have been Harry's second year of Hogwarts, a Gryffindor student, Ginny Weasley, went to Dumbledore to tell him that she thought something was wrong with her. She couldn't remember certain times in her days and was beginning to worry over what was happening in those memory blocks. It was soon discovered that she was being possessed and when questioned how, she handed over a strange diary.

It was soon discovered to be the diary of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known by a greater majority of magical Britain, as Lord Voldemort. The diary was quickly disposed of and the Chamber of Secrets was never opened.

In what should have been Harry's third year, two more Gryffindor students went to Dumbledore with a strange rat belonging to their younger brother. It turned out to be Peter Pettigrew and soon Sirius Black, escaped convict, was pardoned and given a formal apology from the ministry. When he appeared he demanded to know what they had done with his godson. No one could answer him truthfully.

That year Harry Potter was formally announced as being deceased, and the search parties for him were disbanded. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin never gave up the search.

The end of what should have been Harry's fourth year, one student from Durmstrang was killed in the Triwizard tournament. His body was never found, having been taken away via portkey once he reached the Triwizard cup. No one knew what had happened, and only the family tapestry announced his death.

The year after, more people began to go missing and the Ministry, under orders of Dumbledore, started to look further into what the cause was. It was soon discovered that Death Eater activity was on the increase and it was assumed that Voldemort may have returned.

In the summer of 1996, it was confirmed. With the death of fifteen Ministry employees, including Cornelius Fudge, the Ministry publicly announced the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Panic began to ensue and Dumbledore decided to make the Order cooperate with the Ministry Aurors.

The rest of the school year after that was almost uneventful, not counting the increasing number of raids, most successful. It was only in May of 1997 that Draco Malfoy cracked under pressure of what he had been ordered to do and admitted to Dumbledore that he had been sent to kill him. He was put into protection and given a private tutor as he was hidden in the castle for his own safety.

Two months later a strange man appeared in Diagon Alley. He was quite short in stature, coming up to about five foot three, and had pure white hair, which faded into jet black just below his shoulders. He had pale white skin that seemed to glow and wore strange white robe-like clothes that only seemed to enhance his skin. It was his eyes however that drew most peoples attention. They were a pale green, almost white, and had not pupil. Not that anyone could see in any case. His effeminate features made many people, men and women, leer at him, and he almost glided through the crowds elegantly, seemingly searching for someone. Or something.

Whoever he was however, it was quite clear to anyone with a brain, that he was not human. If it were not for the fact it was broad daylight, many would have sworn that he was a Vampire.

**A/N – Well I have wrote another chapter in celebration of having all my bandages removed!! Woo! I can finally have a proper bath!! Which reading back on it, makes me sound somewhat disgusting... I would like to take the chance to point out that I have had both hands and arms bandaged for the last month... You ain't allowed to get bandages wet... Anyhoo, who is that mysterious person at the end? To be fair, it really isn't that hard to work out!! Lol! **

**Anyways, quick vote for you my dears, who do you want Harry paired with? It will be slash so if that bothers anyone, I do have to wonder why you are reading it? I'm sure I mentioned it was in the summary... **

**So yeah, who do you want Harry to be with?**

**Voldemort**

**Draco**

**Bill Weasley**

**Charlie Weasley**

**Other (You can ask for someone else in canon)**

**OMC (Will be same species as Harry)**

**So vote and I'll give the results with the next chapter... perhaps. We'll see how it goes...**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Late in the night of mid April, there was an unexpected meteor shower. Many astrologists could not explain the meaning and reason for the shower, but they enjoyed watching it, claiming it to be one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the century.

In the wizarding world, the meteor shower passed without much celebration. A fifth year astronomy class at Hogwarts took note of the position many of the meteors came from, and all took note of the one meteor that seemed to travel straight down to earth to land somewhere not in their vision.

However, in both worlds it passed by into insignificance. Forgotten by all except those who cared. Which is a shame for the wizarding world, as that was the point when their saviour was returned to them.

--

Sirius walked through the streets of Diagon Alley wondering where to start the search next. He had begun to start loosing hope, though he refused to accept that his godson was dead. It couldn't be true and he would find his Godson, wherever he was.

Remus looked at the man standing next to him and sighed. They had searched nearly all of the magical world only to return once again to Diagon Alley. Voldemort's actions had begun to increase and they had both been called back by the Order to begin actively helping in the war against Voldemort. Not that Sirius was entirely impressed with this. He refused to give up on his search. Remus did agree with him on one point. Their cub was not dead. He was just lost to them at this point in time.

"Sirius, we must go to headquarters soon. Dumbledore wishes to speak to us." Remus said, staring at his oldest friend, concern shining in his eyes.

"Soon Remy. I have a feeling we need to be here first however." Sirius responded vaguely, looking out into the crowded street.

"Whatever for? Come on Padfoot, we need to be going. We're going to be late."

"I don't know. I just know we have to be here."

"Well, will we be here for much longer?" Remus asked, beginning to get impatient. He leaned against the wall of the shop they were currently standing in front of and then gasped when he saw an other worldly creature making his way through the crowds.

A young man, not much taller than some of the younger students at Hogwarts, made his way through the crowd. He was wearing strange robe-like clothing in pure white, which only made his pale skin seem to glow. His hair was white at the roots, however seemed to fade into black just below his shoulders, the overall length reaching to his mid back by Remus' estimation.

Glancing over to look at Sirius, he noticed that he had also seen the man, and was now staring at him with wide eyes.

"Sirius? Are you okay?" Remus asked, placing his hand on Sirius' shoulder gently. Sirius nodded and took a small step forward, towards the mysterious man, who had stopped and was now smiling gently at two children that had managed to somehow miss him and run into him.

"It's Harry." Sirius whispered, taking another step towards the man. Remus looked at Sirius, then at the man, before turning back to his friend.

"I think you are mistaken. Harry would look to be around that age now, but he would have bright green eyes and black hair. That can't be him." Remus said, following Sirius, who was now walking towards the man at a steady pace.

They reached the man quickly and stood in front of him, getting his attention quickly. He glanced up at them and smiled brightly, pale green eyes shining with a seemingly inner light.

"Excuse me, but you remind my friend and I of someone we once knew. May I ask what your name is?" Remus asked, keeping a hand on Sirius' shoulder in warning to keep quiet. So far it seemed to be working.

"My name? I was named Arcas long ago. I believe that would be what you call my name. Arcas." The man, Arcas said, voice so quiet even Remus had to strain to hear.

"Ah, then I am afraid we have gotten you mixed up with someone else. Sorry to have disturbed you." Remus said, tugging gently at Sirius to make him move away.

"No! I know you're real name! You can't be called Arcas!" Sirius said, pulling his shoulder away from Remus, who groaned and glanced at the people around them who were now beginning to show interest.

"Perhaps we should take this conversation elsewhere? Maybe we could go and get a drink in the Leaky Cauldron?" Remus suggested, indicating to the pub with his head. Arcas looked at the pub and then back at the two men, confusion shining in his eyes, before he smiled slightly and nodded.

"That would be fine by me. Perhaps you two could tell me your... names?" Arcas asked, saying the word questioningly, as though unsure of it.

"Ah, well I am Remus Lupin and this, this is Sirius Black. If you follow me, we can find a table and continue this conversation." Remus said, tugging sharply at Sirius' shoulder and then leading the two other men towards the pub.

Once they had gotten a table inside and placed their order for their drinks, they all looked at each other and an uncomfortable silence settled around them. Remus glanced around him and discreetly cast a privacy ward over their booth, assuming, correctly, that this would be a conversation they would not wish to be overheard.

"So... Arcas, may I ask what brings you to Diagon Alley?" Remus asked, ignoring the glare Sirius shot him as he kicked him when he opened his mouth.

"I am in search of someone. Though I do not know who." Arcas added, looking away and frowning. Sirius frowned at the young man and leaned forward.

"Why do you lie and tell us your name is Arcas?" Sirius asked, making Remus groan mentally and roll his eyes.

"I do not lie. My... name... is Arcas. That is what my people referred to me as." Arcas said, looking at Sirius in confusion, lips twitching when he noticed Remus shake his head in despair.

"Why do you do that?" Remus asked, making Arcas tilt his head to the side in confusion. "Why do you say the word name as thought you are unfamiliar with it."

"I am. We do not know this word, as it is not one we use often." Arcas explained, making both wizards frown in confusion.

"Then what did you refer to each other as? Why do you not use the word name?" Sirius asked.

"We do not have much need to call one another by a separate... name. Though we seem many, we are in fact few and far between. We communicate to one another very rarely, only when we have need." Arcas said, looking into his glass as though it held the answers to life.

"That sounds very lonely. Who are your people?" Remus asked, just as Sirius also asked his own questions.

"What do you do all day? What do you do for entertainment?"

"Who should I answer first? It does indeed get lonely, yet we have our own sources of entertainment. We watch you for entertainment. You are all very amusing. May I ask a question of my own?" Arcas asked softly, glancing around him at the people in the room.

"Sure thing, ask away." Sirius said brightly, though both men noticed he avoided answering Remus' last question.

"Why do you not believe I am called Arcas?"

"It is an unusual name. What, may I ask, is your surname?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes at the man in front of him.

"Surname? I am afraid I am unfamiliar with this term. As for my name being unusual, that I cannot help. It is what my people decided they would use in reference to me."

"It is a family name. Mine is Lupin for example, I share it with my kin." Remus explained, getting a thoughtful look from Arcas in return.

"I do not have one of those. Neither do any of my kin." Arcas said with a small smile at the two men across from him.

"No surname? How strange."

"You never did answer my question though. Why do you not accept my name?"

"You remind me of someone I one knew. My godson. Harry. He went missing when he was six, almost eleven years ago." Sirius explained, making Arcas frown.

"I remember being called that once. Many, many years ago. I have been called Arcas for much longer though. That is what I am more comfortable with." Arcas said, frowning as he remembered something long past.

"How old are you Arcas?"

"Me? I am half way into my third millennia of life." Arcas said, not noticing the stunned looks the two men were giving him.

"What are you? An elf? I thought they had left this world long ago." Remus said, not noticing the disappointed look on Sirius' face at this revelation.

"An elf? No, I am not one those. You are correct in assuming they left many years ago. Though really they only hide. Only found when the need is great. Which is not very often in their eyes. They care not for the woes of humankind... or indeed, any other race." Arcas said, amusement glittering in his eyes.

"If you really are over three thousand years old, then you cannot be my Godson. He would only be seventeen at the end of this month." Sirius said sadly, glancing down at the table and therefore missing the confused look Arcas gave him.

"In your time, I suppose I would be seventeen. Time runs differently in the heavens." Arcas said almost dreamily.

"Your name from your past wouldn't happen to be Harry Potter, would it?" Remus asked curiously.

"How do you know that name?" Arcas asked sharply, making Sirius look up at him, hope showing on his face.

"Was that your name? Please! You must tell us!" Sirius begged, making Arcas look at him nervously.

"Yes. Once, long ago, that is what I went by. Though it was not for long. I was soon taken away." Arcas said, gazing past them at something only he could see.

"You are Harry Potter? You are my Godson!" Sirius exclaimed happily, standing up to hug the man in front of him, only to stop quickly when he noticed Arcas flinch away from him sharply.

"Please, do not touch me. It will do you more harm than good." Arcas said, drawing his cloak around him tighter and making Sirius take his seat once more.

"Arcas? Would you do us the favour of coming with us to meet some people. They also, were hit hard by the loss of you all those years ago." Remus said, making Arcas tilt his head to the side once more in thought.

"I do not see the harm in it. So long as anyone there knows not to touch me. Only one can touch me safely. Only he can risk touching me without burning." Arcas said softly, making both Remus and Sirius frown, wondering who he could be talking about. And why no one could touch him.

"If no one can touch you, then what do you and your people do, in case you accidentally walk into one another." Remus asked curiously.

"Walk into one another? We do not see each other very often, it takes too long. Only those who have mated have company. We only meet when there is need. And even then we do not touch. Though, in theory, it would not harm us as much as one who is not part of our race. We each burn, but cannot be burnt." Arcas explained, as though that answered their question. Which, in a way, it did.

"Will you come with us then? We need to be heading there now anyway?"

"Okay. Where is it you are heading? How shall we get there?" Arcas asked brightly, looking from one wizard to the other and back.

"We are heading to the headquarters of the main resistance of this war. It is in a secret location. We must take a portkey to get there." Remus explained, making Arcas frown.

"Would that not mean we touch? I do not wish to harm you. Nor do I wish to become involved in your war. It does not concern my people and I." Arcas said with a frown.

"If you wrap your cloak around you, there will be no risk of our skin touching. Will that make a difference? As for joining the war, you and your people may not have a choice soon. Soon this war will reach every corner of the world, wizarding and Muggle. No one will escape the dark of Voldemort." Remus said sadly, looking away from the confused look on Arcas' face.

"I will come, but I make no promises." Arcas said, standing up and wrapping his cloak tightly around him, then looking down at the two hopeful men.

"Shall we leave then? Hold onto this and we shall leave for Headquarters." Sirius said, holding out a pink Frisbee. The two other men held onto the Frisbee and Sirius whispered a seemingly random word. "Hope."

**A/N – Hmm, I think this chapter is a bit shorter than the one before, but well, I figured this was as good a place as any to stop. Next chapter we meet the Order, and perhaps see what old Voldie is up to. **

**As for the vote, well, I figure I will keep it going for the next chapter at least. At the moment Harry won't be with anyone, though he may meet them soon, depending on who it is. **

**Who Harry/Arcas is searching for depends entirely on the vote as well. It can go one of two ways, and I have planned the story out for both. **

**Anyways, the results so far are:**

**Voldemort – 3**

**Charlie – 5**

**Bill – 4**

**Draco – 4**

**OMC – 2**

**Severus – 1**

**Blaise – 1**

**OC (Please state who you wish it to be.) **

**To the person who requested Cho Chang, I am afraid this will be a slash, so Harry will not be with her, sorry. **

**You can vote as many times as you wish. Though I think in order to do that, you may have to sign out... I think... **

**So yeah. Here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. What Harry/Arcas is will come up in the next chapter, if no one has guessed already. Only one reviewer seems to know where I am heading. And no it isn't a crossover. Though it may seem that way.**

**Thank you to all who have reviewed so far!! I am very appreciative!! : )**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The portkey dropped them off in a dark and dingy hallway, which, to Sirius and Remus, seemed to be lit up slightly more than normal, by the glowing light coming from their impromptu guest.

"Where are we? It is... dark. Kind of... Um..." Arcas searched around for a suitable word that wasn't rude.

"You can be honest you know. Neither of us would care." Remus said, grinning slightly in amusement.

"Oh no! I may now know much about your peoples, but um... I know that would not be accepted!" Arcas said, shocked at the suggestion.

"Fine, we'll do it for you, won't we Moony?" Sirius said, grinning at his best friend.

"Sure thing Pads!"

"Right. Where to start? Ooh! Well, this place is certainly dark! It's got a certain mustiness to it!" Sirius exclaimed, though still managing to keep his voice down, much to Arcas' confusion.

"Why are we speaking so quietly? And do we not have a meeting to attend?" Arcas asked, looking around him and tilting his head at the drawn curtains on the wall. Humans were so strange.

"You're right. Shall we go and introduce you to the rest of the Order?" Remus asked, ignoring the first question completely. Being introduced to Mrs Black was a sort of initiation rite by now. He would find out sooner or later.

"What is the 'Order'?" Arcas asked as Sirius and Remus lead him down a set of stairs and into another room. Which appeared to be a kitchen when Arcas looked around him.

There was a large, long table in the middle of the room, with several people already sitting around it. And at that moment, all were staring at him. Arcas smiled shyly and then stepped behind Remus to hide from the distrusting stares.

"Remus, Sirius. Will you introduce us to your friend, and perhaps explain what he is doing here?" An old man, with a long white beard asked. Arcas squeaked and hid even further behind an amused Remus.

"Ah, well this is Arcas. We bumped into him in Diagon Alley and found out something about him, that I thought you should all hear as well." Sirius said, dragging a clinging Arcas from behind Remus. "Arcas, this is the Order."

"Hi." Arcas said, smiling gently and inching back towards the safety he associated with Remus.

"Hello, Mr..." The old man, who Arcas assumed to be the leader of this group, asked, clasping his hands in front of him and leaning forward in his chair.

"It's just Arcas, I don't have a um... surname?" Arcas asked, making the Order wonder why he was unsure of saying surname.

"Well, why don't you three take a seat, and we can do introductions." The old man said.

Remus and Sirius walked to the table and sat down in the two seats at the end. Arcas shrugged and then stood behind Remus' chair, wrapping his fist in Remus' shirt and pressing close to the back of his chair.

"Well, as it would seem you have been told, this is the Order of the Phoenix. We are the main defence against Voldemort and his followers. I am Professor Dumbledore, I am headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Hello." Arcas said shyly, not letting go of Remus' shirt.

"On my left are Arthur, Molly, Fred and George Weasley." Dumbledore said, indicating to the four red heads sitting at the table. "Next to them are Nymphadora Tonks, though she prefers to be called Tonks." Dumbledore added when the pink haired woman glared at him.

Harry smiled at them and waved before looking at the rest around the table. Trying not to focus on the one man, who's eye seemed to spin in the socket completely independent of the other eye.

"And on my right are, Mad Eyes Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Severus Snape and of course you know Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." Dumbledore said, making Arcas smile at the others and then nod in agreement with Dumbledore.

"Right then, so what is it that Remus and Sirius said you needed to tell us?" Dumbledore asked eventually, once everyone else had said their greetings to Arcas.

"Um... I suppose they want me to tell you who I used to be, but to be honest I don't really remember much about my youth. You kind of forget things after about thousand years or so..." Arcas admitted with a shrug , blinking at the looks of confusion and shock on everyones faces.

"You mean, Mr Arcas, to tell us that you are one thousand years old?" The greasy haired man, Snape, sneered, making Arcas shrink away from him.

"Well... technically I am three thousand, five hundred and twenty-three. Though I suppose in your terms I am just nearing seventeen. Time runs differently back home." Arcas explained, grinning shyly at everyone around the table.

"What exactly are you Arcas?" Dumbledore asked, making everyone, including Sirius and Remus, turn to stare at him.

"Ah, I think your term for them are um... stars." Arcas said with small smile, ignoring the gasps coming from around him.

"You're a star? Why are you here Mr Arcas?"

"There's no Mr, it's just Arcas... And as I told Remus and Sirius, I'm here to find someone." He explained with a small shrug.

"Who? I mean, maybe we can help you." The pink haired woman, Tonks said brightly. The red heads behind her nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh well, I'm not sure. See, it is sort of a rite of passage amongst our people. When we reach a certain age, we must leave to find our mate. Mine was predicted to be here, on this earth." Arcas said quietly, a small secret smile crossing his face.

"Do you now anything about them?" Molly Weasley asked kindly.

"They are male. And magical. They are human as well. And I believe that I came here because that is where I last sensed them."

"So you can sense them?"

"Sort of, though it is difficult to explain... I will know when I see them though." Arcas admitted with a shrug.

"Tell them who you are!" Sirius urged, getting the attention from everyone at the table.

"Who are you, Arcas?"

"I'm Arcas, though apparently you may have known my name before I left." Arcas said with a shrug, "See, before I left, I was known as Harry Potter."

With that announcement, a complete uproar exploded in the kitchen, making Arcas stare at them stunned and then hide almost completely behind a now standing Remus.

Molly Wealsey ran over to him suddenly, and grabbed him into a hug, making Arcas gasp in horror and shock, before he was suddenly dropped to the floor, as Molly shrieked in pain and looked at her hand and cupped her cheek that had come into contact with Arcas' skin.

Remus quickly bent down and held Arcas at the elbow to help him to stand. Tonks and Kingsley cast the healing spells they knew on Molly, before everyone turned to look at a horrified Arcas.

"You can't touch me! No one can except my mate!" Arcas said, stepping away form the group of now standing adults, the Weasley's now all looking at him with mixed horror and distrust.

"What are you Mr Potter?" Dumbledore asked, distrust also on his face, making Arcas shrink away from him and grab onto Remus' shirt once again.

"I told you. I am a star. We burn those that touch our skin. I am not human, my molecular structure is not the same as yours. I am made up of burning gases and um... stuff." Arcas admitted with a shrug.

"The Harry Potter we knew was completely human, the last I knew. How is it you are not, if you really are Harry Potter." Severus Snape asked with a sneer.

"I changed. I left and got changed. How else do you think Stars are formed? My constellation is the Ursa Minor. Just like my mother all those years before. Ursa Major, as you may have heard of her... I'm not sure... What do you call the stars?" Arcas asked, looking at everyone confused.

"We have the same names for some reason... We know of the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor... Though your mother is not Ursa Minor. I knew Lily Evans and she did not disappear at any point in her life."

"Lily Evans? No, my mothers name is Callisto." Arcas said, once again with confusion colouring his voice.

"What do you mean? You've never heard of Lily?" Sirius asked, turning to look at his estranged godson.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Arcas said with a shrug.

"Harry-"

Arcas interrupted Dumbledore with a small frown. "I would prefer to be called Arcas. It is the name I ave been referred to more during my life. Harry is too strange for me."

"Well Arcas. Now that you have been introduced to the Order, perhaps we should tell you more about the war we are fighting. I believe then, you will be able to tell us if and how you can help us."

"I do not want any part in your war Mr Dumbledore sir. I just want to find my mate and leave. Your war will not affect me or my people." Arcas said, shaking his head quietly.

"Whether you are willing admit it or not, the war against Voldemort will affect you." Dumbledore said gravely, which was somewhat ruined when Arcas started to snigger.

"What is big enough to affect the stars? I have been around long enough to see many wars, and not one has come even close to affecting the stars. Many of them are a lot worse than your little war. You may destroy each other in the war, but humankind will always pull through and a new generation of magical kind will come around." Arcas said with a shrug. The rest of the Order sat and stared at him in horror at his harsh words.

"And what exactly have you witnessed Arcas?" Severus asked, sneering at him. Arcas glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, not in the least intimidated.

"The Great War was the only war that could have come close to harming the stars. That was the only time that we elders got together to consider helping out one fraction of the war. In the end it was unneeded." Arcas said with a shrug, noticing that the Order seemed to be split between those who knew what he was talking about, and those who didn't. Clearly they needed a better History teacher. These wars should never be forgotten.

"The Great War? You mean the Muggle war? How did that affect the stars?" The pink haired woman, Tonks Arcas corrected himself silently, asked.

"No, the war which was the reason for the Elves to hide themselves away and made many species of Dragon to become extinct. How do you not know of this war?" Arcs asked, fury now showing through in his voice for the first time since he had been back on the planet.

"I am afraid, it is hard to find good history teachers these days. I believe the Goblin Wars are the interest of the current teacher." Dumbledore admitted not wanting to anger the, already temperamental Star any further.

"Then you need a better teacher. There is a reason that historians recorded all major events happening at the time. It was so that future generations could learn from them and make sure they don't get repeated. There are not enough species left for you to kill. However, your war will not effect my people, not will it reach the Elves or the notice of most other magical beings besides the humans."

"The Weres are already involved." Remus said quietly.

"The Wolves are involved, but the rest stay away. No one can find them, and they do not want to be involved. _They _remember the Great War and do not wish to be forced away like the Elves." Arcas said, before turning and walking towards the door.

"Where are you going? Are you not going to help us at all?" Dumbledore asked, moving around the table to step closer to the departing Star.

"I need to find my mate. That is my only concern with your kind. I will not find him talking to you about your pointless war." Arcas said, no longer finding the human species amusing. Just irritating.

"Pointless war? Now see here young man! This war affects both the magical and Muggle communities! This is no little war!! Many lives are at stake and you are refusing us the little help that could possibly end this war without too much blood loss!" The eldest woman, Molly, shrieked, making those with sensitive ears wince at the sound, and Arcas to roll his eyes once his ears had stopped ringing.

"To me, your war is pointless. If it strays into the Muggle world, then your war will be ended a lot quicker than you thought. You need to read up on their advancements, not ignore them and believe them to be inferior. They have managed without magic a lot better than you have." Arcas said and swung the door open to leave the kitchen. The shrieking of Molly, unfortunately, had awoken another shrieking woman. Only this time, Arcas wasn't entirely sure what to make of it... For one thing it was a portrait.

Another thing was the stunned silence his appearance caused, making the woman to bend into a low curtsey, blushing lightly.

"My liege! It has been many centuries since a Star has walked the walls of a Black house." The portrait said, before straightening out and looking at Arcas more closely.

"My lady. You know of the Stars?" Arcas said, eyes shining brightly at the prospect at talking to someone who knew of his people.

"Indeed, you may know of my sons namesake. He came to the Blacks for help to find his Mate."

"May I ask your name?"

"It is Walburga. And your constellation?" Walburga asked, making Arcas smile widen even further if that was possible. The rest of the Order had all arrived by this time and were now watching stunned as the young man in front of them managed to shut up the infamous portrait of Walburga Black.

"Who is that?" Percy Weasley asked his mother, walking further into the entrance hall.

"The rudest man I have ever met. Arcas."

"My constellation is the Ursa Minor."

"Arcas! I remember reading your story when I was a child! I loved the romance! How is your mother?"

Arcas looked at her, stunned that she knew his real name and history. "She is fine. I think she is both nervous that I am here to find a mate, and excited that I will now find my other half."

"Do you know who they are?"

"Alas, no. I only arrived a couple of months ago and so I am still searching. I have narrowed them down to being in this country though." Arcas said, smile dropping a little and making Walburga frown.

"Then it is the right of the Blacks to offer you our help and hospitality. My son will offer you a place to stay in this house and all the help he can give you if he knows what is good for him. For many generations, your people have lent your names to the Blacks, so we swore we would return the favour and help any Star that came across our paths to find their mate." Walburga exclaimed to the surprise of everyone in the room, and making Arcas flush with gratitude.

"We did?" Sirius said, walking forward and looking at his mother in shock.

"Yes, if you had not run away before your seventeenth, then you would have found out on your birthday." Walburga said with a scowl. Arcas turned to look at his godfather curiously.

"Why did you run away?"

"Let's just say we had a difference of opinion. However, I will agree to taking up this task."

"Then you shall once again be accepted into the Black's and Kreacher will listen to you from now on. Though I realise how hard it is for you two to get on. Now Arcas, I must admit, I never met Sirius, the Star, but from what I was told, you are much more stunning. Still haven't dared to cut your hair yet though?" Walburga commented, glancing at the Star's appearance.

"I refuse to cut my hair I until I find my mate. It is a vow that many Stars take. My mother before me did as well." Arcas said, tugging at a stray piece of hair in front of his face.

"A noble thing indeed little Star. So what shall you do in the mean time? You cannot just sit around this house between searching. You know you must await for him to come to you."

"I honestly do not know Ma'am."

"Call me Walburga please."

"As long as you call me Arcas."

It was at this point that Dumbledore shook himself out of his stupor and felt it time to interrupt. "I can offer you a place at Hogwarts teaching war history for the time you are here. It will make sure you know the future generations know of the wars in the past."

Arcas turned back to look at Walburga questioningly. She smiled at him kindly before glaring at Dumbledore. "And what is to say you will not hinder his main reason for being here?"

"I promise that I will not stop you from leaving once you find your mate, nor will I openly hinder any progress you might make in this endeavour."

"Then I suppose I shall take it. Would I have to live at the school, or here?" Arcas asked, looking back to Dumbledore.

"During term time you will have to live at the school, however we will provide suitable quarters and anything you need."

"Do you have another portrait that I can take with me? I enjoy talking to someone who knows of my kind. It is somewhat refreshing and helps to lessen the homesickness." Arcas admitted with a small blush adding colour to his face.

"Of course, Sirius can take you to the main family vault, which e will now have access to, and show you where they are. I will be glad to-" Walburga was interrupted by the arrival of several teenagers appearing in the hallway with a loud collection of pops.

"Hey Mum, what's going on? Why's everyone gathered in the hall?" A tall, gangly red head male, who Arcas assumed was related to Weasley's yelled, making Arcas raise an eyebrow.

"We were just introducing the new teacher to the Order, young Ronald." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling and making all teens eyes search out and stop on Arcas, who inched towards the portrait.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, making the young bushy haired girl tut.

"I am Arcas. I will be teaching War History next term." Arcas said, soft voice managing to carry to the group.

"A new course? Will it be a required course?" The bushy haired girl asked enthusiastically.

"Yes Miss Granger, it is will a required lesson. Arcas, this is Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, all seventh years at Hogwarts and Ginevra Weasley and Luna Lovegood, both sixth years."

"Pleased to meet you." Arcas said with a slight bob of his head.

"How can you be a teacher? You don't look older than Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, getting nods of agreement from the teens around him. Clearly he was the leader of this group, Arcas thought to himself. Also someone he will possibly have to keep an eye on.

"I assure you I ma old enough. I am over three thousand years old." Arcas said, smiling with suppressed amusement at the stunned looks that received.

"So then Arcas. Shall I show you o your room, and maybe me, you and Remus can get to know each other a bit better, and learn something that might help us find you your mate." Sirius said eventually, the stunned silence beginning to irritate him.

"That sounds like fun. Perhaps we can also find time to find Walburga's other portrait." Arcas said, closing the curtains of Walburga when requested by said portrait.

"Sure thing. Let's go then, there is possibly a special room kept especially for your kind if we were prepared for another of your people to come to us. I'll have to ask another portrait though." Sirius said with a shrug, leading Arcas and Remus up the stairs and leaving a very bemused Order behind.

**A/N – Okay, so this was more a filler chapter than anything and also, Harry not finding his mate means that the poll is open for one more chapter. Next chapter it will be finished, and I will post who won. Though I am not guaranteeing that he will meet his mate for a while... It depends on how things run... I have already had to get rid of some plans, just because the story didn't seem to want to go that way... So now I'm just going with the flow!! Lol!!**

**Anyways, the results so far are:**

**Voldemort 7**

**Bill 9**

**Charlie 19**

**Draco 12**

**OMC (Original Male Character to those who wanted to know) 4**

**Severus 7**

**Blaise 3**

**OC (Obviously, if Harry has already met them, then they won't be his mate so this is no longer an option. Sorry.) 3**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N – I don't normally do the notes at the beginning of a chapter, but the results are in, and a couple of people have stated t

**A/N – I don't normally do the notes at the beginning of a chapter, but the results are in, and a couple of people have stated that they would rather wait and see what the pairing will be before they carry on, so I shall put them first in this chapter, skip if you want. The response I got for this was almost overwhelming... Thank you to everyone who did vote and everyone who just reviewed. This chapter is dedicated to you.**

**Results:**

**Voldemort 10**

**Bill 20**

**Charlie 50 (Kinda won by a landslide there)**

**Draco 26**

**OMC 9**

**Severus 12**

**Blaise 5**

**OC 3**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter Five

The room that Sirius finally found out was for any Star that happened across a Black, which he admitted to the two following him, was a room which he had always wondered who it was for, was... decadent to say the least.

Arcas walked in and looked at the room around him. Clearly it had been decorated by Sirius the Dogstar, just because the walls reminded him of his own room back at his home. They were black, but seemingly not there, which suited Arcas just fine, seeing as he was beginning to suspect that he was just a little claustrophobic on this world.

"Wow, so this is the room. I wonder how they got the walls to look like that." Sirius said, walking over to one of the walls and placing a hand on it, just to be certain that it was indeed there. It was.

"I've always wondered that back home. Mother would just grin at me and then shake her head. I truthfully just think she didn't really know either." Arcas added with a grin, knowing that his mother would have heard him and that she would be keeping a very close eye on him until he found his mate.

"So then, can we ask you some questions?" Remus asked, sitting on the bed and watching Arcas look around the room curiously, from opening the mostly empty wardrobe, to nosing through the drawers beside the bed.

"Sure thing. Ask away, I had thought you would, and now that I know one of you is an _actual_ main house Black, I can answer as I see fit." Arcas said. He pulled an old book out of the middle drawer and opened it.

"Right. Do you know anything that will help us, help you find your mate?" Sirius asked from his seat beside Remus.

"Um... Not really. He's male and a Wizard for the time being. That's about it. I don't even know if he is involved in the war, and if so, which side." Arcas said, putting aside the book and sitting on the floor in front of the two men.

"What if he is a part of the war?" Remus asked, interrupting Sirius before he could even speak.

"Then I will stand by his side of course. I may not want to, but if he does not want to leave, then I will do nothing to force him." Arcas said with a shrug.

"Even if he is a Death Eater?"

"Even then."

"What! You would join _his_ side just for someone you haven't even met before?!" Sirius asked, yelling at Arcas.

"You do not understand. My mate is who makes me who I am. He will be the one to make me shine, he will be the one to stand by me through everything, and eventually, he will be the one who is with during the end." Arcas said, staring at Sirius blankly.

Remus frowned and replayed back what Arcas had just told them, looked between the two men staring each other out and sighed. "What do you mean the end? Are you not immortal?"

"No, no being is truly immortal. An end will come eventually. Some just live longer than others. Stars are no exception. One day we will no longer be there. Admittedly it won't be for a very a long time yet, but it will happen." Arcas said, stunning the two men with his blasé attitude.

"Does it not bother you, talking about your death like that?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Why should it? It will be relatively painless and I will know before hand when it will happen. Some Stars last longer than others, but we all go out the same way. However, we leave something behind."

"What?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. No one does. I do know that no one star within the whole constellation out lives another. It isn't possible."

"Can we stop talking about my godsons ever likely death please?" Sirius asked, the distress at the current topic showing on his face.

"Sure, is there anything else you would like to know."

"What are you going to teach the students, and what happens if you find your mate before the school year?" Remus asked.

"I honestly had not thought of that. I suppose ultimately I will discuss it with my mate and see what he thinks I should do. Obviously if he wishes to stay and help with the war, then I will keep my position as the children's teacher. Otherwise, I suppose it has been promised to this generation to be taught, then I really should. I cannot, in good conscience, allow the mistakes of _that_ past happen again."

"What was so bad that you sound scared?" Remus asked, the fear in his cubs voice making his wolf come to the front.

"Lets just say it was bad enough to grab the attention of the stars. And I mean literally. We sent envoys down to each fraction to plead with them to stop. They ignored us, so we had to take matters into our own hands."

"What did you do?"

"Ended the war." Arcas said, his voice telling them that he would speak of the matter no more.

"Right, well how about we go down to Diagon Alley again?" Sirius asked suddenly, getting curious looks from both men in the room.

"Why?" Remus finally asked.

"Well, for one, Arcas can't go around wearing the same clothes, so he will need more. And there is the added advantage that Arcas' mate may well be there as well. You are sure he's in Britain right?" Sirius asked, taking his role given to him by his family very seriously... now that he knew it.

"Um... well he was when I arrived." Arcas admitted, making Sirius and Remus groan.

"What do you mean by he was?" Sirius asked, Arcas noticed that a whine entered his voice.

"Well, he was in Britain when I arrived, but for all I know, he could have left since. So... Um... yeah. Heh." Arcas said with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck, not noticing the silent groan that Remus emitted.

"So he might not even be in this country any more? How long does it normally take to find your mate?" Sirius asked out of curiosity, though part of him screamed at him for even enquiring.

"Well, um... I know Sirius, as in the Dog Star Sirius, didn't find Dorea for um... mumble." Arcas suddenly found the floor very interesting and started to pick at a loose thread on his long sleeve. Though to be honest, he deliberately made it loose in order to have something to pick with.

"Pardon? We didn't quite hear that." Remus said through gritted teeth, he heard just fine, he just wanted Arcas to prove what he heard wrong.

"Um... Five years." Arcas mumbled.

"What!!" Sirius screamed, making Arcas wince, his ears twitching as they rung with the screech.

"Er... Five years. But! Things have moved on so quickly since then! It was over three hundred years ago! I mean, surely there are um... Spells!! Yes! Spells! There must be spells you can use to find him!" Arcas said, practically jumping on the spot with excitement. Well, until he saw the expression on the other two wizard faces.

"Oh yes. We have this amazing new spell that came about just a couple of weeks ago, called 'Find-A-Star-It's-Soul-Mate.'" Remus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You're being sarcastic aren't you? Why would some one name a spell that?" Arcas asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yes, I was being sarcastic." Remus said dryly.

"Though, to be honest, that is what the spell would probably be called. Wizards aren't exactly known for our imagination." Sirius pointed out. Remus nodded in agreement and Arcas sat down on the floor, leaning his chin on his fist.

"So what do I do?" Arcas whined. Remus and Sirius didn't actually think it was possible for ethereal beings to whine. Though to be fair, they had never actually met one before this, so they hadn't actually considered it to be a fact.

"Well, if you sensed him here when you arrived, common sense indicates that there is a clear possibility that he may come back to England at some point." Remus pointed out.

"Really? When?" Arcas asked, smiling brightly at the thought of finding his mate.

"I have no idea. If I knew that, then there would be no problem at all. Hopefully though, it won't be long."

"And then I'll find my mate! Um... what exactly do mates do?" Arcas asked innocently. Remus and Sirius looked at each other and groaned loudly. It was going to be a long night.

--

"So the Black's had to explain everything to the Dogstar?" Sirius asked his mother, sitting in front of the large portrait and actually having the first civil conversation in twenty years.

"Yes, for some reason, they explain everything about how to find their mate, but, well as for the mating, they explain nothing. They are not taught the same things we are, and unless they become Stars later on in life, which is unusual, but I believe Arcas' mother was one such being, then they known nothing about sexual intercourse." For some unknown reason to Sirius, hearing his mother say those two words made him blush.

"So I actually have to explain the birds and the bees to my godson after all?" Sirius deadpanned.

"Yes. At least you knew him before he became a star. I'd imagine it was quite awkward for them when they didn't even know the star." Walburga pointed out, making Sirius sigh in acceptance.

"I suppose this is another thing that the Black's swore they would do then? I mean, I don't suppose I would get away with shoving it onto Remus' shoulders."

"Why ever not? We Black's did not agree to more than we had to, and explaining to facts of life to someone we never knew is definitely more than we have to. No wonder that stupid hat put you into Gryffindor." Walburga mumbled to herself, making Sirius scowl at her.

"So I can make Remus tell him about it?" Sirius asked, picking up on the most important part of his mothers rant.

"Sure, let the Werewolf do it." Walburga said, waving it off. "Back to the more important part, how do you intend to find Arcas' mate?"

"Not a clue. Do you know how they went about it all those years ago?"

"No, but I would imagine it was different with each Star anyway. Not all of them get their mates from this dimension. Nor do they have human mates. Has he said whether his mate is human or not?"

"I\m pretty sure he mentioned at some point that they were human."

"Well that is one blessing I suppose. It will make things easier for you in the long run. He is a very nice young man though, if not a little... naïve." Walburga said after a brief pause.

"Yeah, I suppose I should help him with that." Sirius said, wrinkling his nose.

"Why? If he leaves here with his mate, then it will not matter, and if he chooses to stay, then leave it to his mate to deal with." Walburga shrugged, looking at her nails and then peering down at her eldest son.

"Well I suppose I should go and tell Remus the good news. What will you do if Arcas chooses to join the war against the Dark Lord?" Sirius asked curiously.

"I suppose I shall have to follow Arcas. Or course, I am a painting, so I don't suppose what I think will make much of a difference anyway." Walburga added with a shrug.

"You would change your views on this war for someone you don't even know? You blasted me off the family tree because of my allegiances."

"Actually, I removed you from the tree because you ran away. And anyway, Black's swore allegiance to the Stars long before the Dark Lord was even a thought in his mothers mind. You have finally found your way to prove yourself worthy of the Black name, hence the new powers you have around this place and over the family accounts."

"True. So I suppose I should be grateful to some things about our family huh? What do I do when he has to leave?" Sirius suddenly asked quietly after a couple of moments silence.

Walburga sighed and looked at her son closely, "You let him go. He is no longer the Godson you remember from those days past. He is a star and he belongs in the skies."

"But I've only just got him back." Sirius whined, making Walburga roll her eyes and sigh.

"Tough. Let him go, or you will lose him completely."

"Oh and letting him leave to live in the sky will not lose him forever?" Sirius asked dryly.

"No, the Stars can always come back to us you know. Anyway, shouldn't you be talking to your Werewolf?"

"He has a name you know." Sirius pointed out, making Walburga sigh sufferingly.

"Of course he does. But he is a Werewolf, whether you or he want to admit it. Ask your Star what it means to be a Werewolf? He is closest to the moon after all. Maybe your rejection of Weres upsets and hurts him more than he lets on."

"Who are we talking about here? Remus or Arcas?"

"Both. Mainly Arcas though." Walburga admitted after Sirius looked at her shrewdly.

"I thought so. You're saying that I'm hurting their feelings? I accept Remus' wolf though!"

"Maybe so, but he doesn't. Until he does, then I will not call him by his name."

"Admit it though, you would have called him Werewolf whether he had accepted his wolf or not before Arcas arrived." Sirius said, narrowing his eyes at his mothers portrait.

"Well of course. I didn't like you before you accepted your position in this situation."

"Cheers. That makes me feel loved." Sirius said dryly, glaring at his mother and closing the curtain sharply to go and find his Godson and Werewolf.

**A/N – Well another chapter. This one is mainly there to give a little bit of background on Arcas and on the relationship between Sirius and his mother. I will admit though, I had no intention of making Arcs so innocent on every aspect of life, but you have to admit, it is rather amusing thinking that Remus and Sirius having to explain to a seventeen year old the birds and bees. I think Arcas is going to become scarred for life. Lol! **

**Sorry to all those who voted for someone other than Charlie, I hope you will continue to read this though and not let it put you off! If it makes you feel and better, Voldemort will be showing his happy little face in the next chapter. You'll find his reaction to the strange being that appeared in Diagon Alley!! **

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews so far, I'll admit, I am completely stunned at the reaction I have received from everyone and I greatly appreciate every single review I have received so far!! **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Voldemort paced in his throne room... Though if someone had even dared to mention the possibility of him pacing, he would have crucioed them to within an inch of their life. Come to think of it, he didn't particularly like the term 'Throne Room' either. Especially when he didn't have a throne...

"Wormtail!!" Voldemort yelled, walking back to elaborate, but yet not quite a throne, chair and sitting in it.

The little rat-man ran into the room, sweating and panting, which confused the Dark Lord, as he _should_ have been just standing outside the room...

"Y-yes Milord?"

"Come here! I need to summon everyone!! And get me a throne!!!" He added as an afterthought. Pettigrew, shaking, nodded and offered his arm to his Lord. He cringed as the pain shot through his body and the rest of the inner circle apparated into the room. Once he was free of the pain, well when his Lord let go of his wrist anyway, Pettigrew shot back and ran out of the room. Ikea sold thrones didn't they?

"Luciussss. Tell me. What newsss do you have?" Voldemort hissed, ignoring the way that his minion shuddered as he stepped forward and kissed his robes. Actually, now that he was thinking about things, who started that? It wasn't exactly hygienic.

"Yes milord. There was a strange man walking through Diagon a couple of days ago. I'm not entirely sure that he is human, but no one has seen him since. He was seen leaving the Alley with the dog and the wolf." Lucius said, making Voldemort grimace.

"Who issss he? Do you know?"

"I have no idea. He spoke to the mutts before they left however, they erected privacy wards so I couldn't hear them."

"So the Order got to him first? Do we think there is any possibility of being able to sway him to our side?"

"I do not know my lord. If I hear he is in the Alley again, shall I approach him?" Lucius asked, still looking at the floor in front of him.

"Yesss. Try to find out what his interests in this war are and where his loyalties lie. If you can, try to get him away from the order and speak with him. Try to bring him to my side. He could be my equal." Voldemort said, waving Lucius to stand and move back to the group.

Lucius nodded and quickly shuffled back to join the rest of the Inner circle. Voldemort scowled and looked at the rest of the group.

"Severussss. Come here." Voldemort hissed softly. The man in question softly stepped forward and knelt before Voldemort.

"Yes My Lord?" Severus asked, looking up at the Dark Lord through his hair.

"Has the old fool told you anything of this mysterious young man?" Severus shuddered and kept looking at the floor in front of him.

"He has told me nothing of this stranger, My Lord. I have not seen him walking around Hogwarts but if I do, I shall try to see if he shows any interests towards a certain side of the war." Severus said, shuddering slightly as Voldemort stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Is that everything you need to tell me Severusss?" Voldemort asked, making Severus panic. Did Voldemort have another spy in the Order?

"There is one other thing My Lord. Dumbledore has started a new subject this year that all the students must attend. It is called History of War, Wizarding and Muggle. No one bar Dumbledore knows who the teacher is though. I will come to you as soon as I find out though My Lord." Severus said, hoping that Dumbledore wouldn't actually mind him telling Voldemort the news.

"Thank you my most loyal ssservant. I want you to find out more about thisss mysssterious professssor and alssso I want you to make me a potion. You will get the instructions from Wormtail and have it finished as soon as possible." Voldemort said, slowly circling Severus and making him even more nervous than was possible.

"Of course My Lord. If that is everything though, I will need to be getting back to Dumbledore before he starts to get suspicious." Severus said, making Voldemort stop behind him and Severus to start sweating.

"Of course Severus. But first. _Crucio_." Severus, even though he knew it was coming, tensed just as the curse hit and then bit his lip to hold in the screams he so wanted to let out. Just as he began to taste blood form his split lip (which was so going to hurt in the morning.) the curse was lifted and Severus took that as his queue to go. Standing up, Severus limped slowly out of the room, bumping into a very flustered Pettigrew on his way out, who passed him a crumpled piece of parchment and carried on mumbling about something called a pack of flat or something.

--

The next day, Sirius and Remus walked into the bedroom that had been closed until Arcas had come along and promptly woke up the little sleeping star (who knew stars slept?) with a lovely little spell Remus had developed in his school years to get his fellow classmates up in the morning.

Who also knew that Stars had such a foul mouth? Or had control over fire.

"Put it out!!! Put it out!!!!!" Sirius screamed as he ran around the room, waving at his now flaming hair.

"Um, I don't know how." Arcas admitted, sheepishly, making Sirius stop in his panicked screaming and look at him in stunned silence. For all of a second before the burning smell of his precious hair snapped him out of it.

"Reeeeeemus!!!!! Help me!!! Stupid Star!" Sirius yelled, glaring at a still blushing and now dressed Arcas.

"I didn't mean to. You startled me! I could have hugged you!" Arcas pointed out, ignoring the hysterical werewolf, who had at least managed to put out the fire in Sirius' hair.

"Oh be quiet to stupid wolf! Anyway, you ungrateful little wretch of a star," Sirius said with a grin, looking at a still sheepish looking Arcas. "We came in here to wake you up for our shopping trip!" Sirius said, suddenly excited again, and seeming to forget that his beloved hair would be in great need of a good hair growth potion or just a hair dresser.

"Shopping trip? Oh. Okay/" Arcas said with a small smile, making Remus reassure him.

"It'll be okay. I'll make sure Sirius doesn't get carried away."

"What are you taking about Moony? We need to buy him new clothes, and possibly some spooky war type objects to litter his classroom with just to intimidate the new students he'll be getting! Maybe some weapons!! They'll be sufficiently scary!!" Sirius said, almost bouncing with suppressed energy.

"Sirius. Now you're being silly. Don't worry Arcas, we'll just buy you the things that you actually need. Though I do hate to agree with Sirius on the clothes side. You only have one set of robes, and you will definitely need more."

"Will they be different colours?" Arcas asked quietly, looking up at Remus through his eyelashes, making Remus just want to grab him into a hug.

"Er... if you want them to be." Remus said, placing a hand on Arcas' shoulder.

"Of course we will be! Why would you just want robes in the same colours?" Sirius asked, dragging them both out of the room and then thrusting a portkey into his newly found godsons hands.

Harry disappeared with a tug behind his navel and a strange queasy feeling in his stomach. He appeared in front of a wall, which was somewhat of a disappointment to him and he looked around him in confusion. Where on earth had the crazy black haired man sent him?

Remus and Sirius then appeared next to him and made the small space even smaller. Sirius then turned to him with a wide smile on his face, which dropped somewhat when he saw the confused look on Arcas' face.

"Er... welcome to Diagon Alley!" Sirius said with a feeble wave behind him.

"This is it? It looked different the last time I was here." Arcas said, looking around him at the walls. Which were beginning to close in on him...

"That would be because we haven't opened the entrance yet. How did you get in the last time?" Remus asked slowly, a frown crossing his face in confusion.

"I appeared there. You know? Like you just made me do, but to the right place and without the nausea." Arcas said with a nod and a smile.

"How did you appear? Can you apparate then?" Sirius asked, completely forgetting about the shopping trip and practically swallowing Arcas in an excited hug.

"Er? What's that do? I can literally appear anywhere I wish. It's how Stars move about. Otherwise, it would take centuries, literally to visit other Stars."

"Oh, well then, I suppose the portkey was completely irrelevant. Maybe we should have asked you first if you had anyway of getting there."

"It would have helped. So then, how do we get to see the Diagon Alley that I know?" Arcas asked, nervously eyeing the walls, which he would swear had closed in even closer.

"Oh, well you have to tap these bricks here in a certain order. Then, See! It opens up!" Sirius said brightly, not noticing the sigh of relief Arcas gave when the walls no longer closed in on him.

"So what do we need to get first?" Remus asked Arcas, ignoring Sirius completely.

"Clothes? They're what I need the most of." Arcas said looking to Remus, as he seemed to be the sanest out of his two escorts.

"Clothes it is then. So do you want different colours or is it just white that you want?" Remus asked him, from one side, as Sirius latched onto his other side.

"Of course he wants different colours. Maybe some black robes of course to teach in and then darker colours when he's-"

"Maybe we should ask Arcas before you go over the top with the shopping for robes." Remus interrupted Sirius, noticing the uncomfortable twitching coming from Arcas.

"Fine, so do you want different robes or not?" Sirius asked, finally getting the opinion of the slightly overwhelmed Star.

"I want white robes. Just white robes. As a Star, we are not permitted to wear other colours if we do not have a mate. Technically, most Stars prefer not wear any other colour anyway, we feel more comfortable in white. Plus it's easier to glow in white. There are exceptions to the rules of course. Libra is quite partial to wearing black. Probably explains why she is quite hard to spot." Arcas said musingly.

"So you're basically saying you just want white robes?" Sirius asked, ignoring a chuckling Remus.

"Um... Yeah, is that wrong? I'm really sorry, but it's just how it is." Arcas said with a shrug.

"Fine, white robes it is then." Sirius said with a sigh and then lead the way to Madam Malkins.

--

After what felt, to Arcas, like hours of shopping, though was probably only an hour or two, Remus, Arcas and Sirius all arrived back at Grimmauld place overloaded with bags full of what they had bought. Why they hadn't shrunk them, Arcas had no idea. Well to be fair, he had no idea how to, though now that he had a new wand (phoenix feather and holly, and apparently the brother to Voldemort's though they weren't going to share that little tit-bit of information with anyone else.) he could probably learn it should he so wish to.

"So then, shall we go put these things away?" Sirius said, smiling brightly at the two exhausted wizards. Both of which were wondering how on earth Sirius seemed to still be full of energy when they were both completely worn out.

"Sirius." All three turned to face the portrait on the wall, Arcas smiling broadly at her in welcome. They had managed to find another portrait of Walberga and Arcas had promised to place her in his quarters at Hogwarts when he left for there.

"Oh god. Yes mother?" Sirius said, pasting a smile on his face as he turned to face her.

"I need to talk to you. Why don't you and Remus go and unpack upstairs Arcas." Walberga said, getting a wide smile from the Star.

"Sure thing. We'll come down later and chat with you. I'd love to hear if you know any stories about my Sirius. He wouldn't tell me anything about finding his mate. Though Dorea is kinda nice and told me some things that happened after she met him." Arcas said with a small grin at something he remembered being told.

"Of course I will tell you any stories I was told. Though we were very respectful of the Stars, so I may not have any truly juicy stories to tell you." Walberga admitted with a small smile. Arcas nodded in understanding and then dragged Remus up the stairs to leave Sirius and his mother's portrait alone.

"So what is it that you wished to talk to me about?" Sirius asked, conjuring a small beanbag and sitting down in front of his mother's portrait.

"Have you spoken to Arcas about the facts of life yet?" Walberga asked, her mouth twitching a little.

"No. I'm putting it off. I figure I can either get Remus to do it, or we can just eave it to whoever his mate turns out to be. It could turn out to be a fun conversation for them..." Sirius faded off, not noticing his mother's proud smirk.

"Ah, there's that Slytherin side. I knew you couldn't look so much like a Black without having some sort of Slytherin side."

"You do know that the Blacks date far before the Slytherin's right? I mean, there are records of the Black family before Hogwarts even existed... So you do realise that there were Black's who weren't Slytherin's right?" Sirius pointed out, gaining a glare from his mother.

"That's not the point. I was complimenting you. Just accept it and stop picking faults with everything I say."

"Why? Because that's your job to do with me?"

"You know, yesterday we had a semi-nice conversation. Why can't we do that today?" Walberga asked, leaning against her portrait frame.

"Maybe it's because we have both over come the shock of actually wanting the same thing for Arcas and have realised that we don't actually have anything else in common. Nor do we actually like each other." Sirius admitted with a shrug.

"You do have a point there. I so had big aspirations for Regulus. Though I will admit that you were my favourite when you were a child. Regulus was a little too whiny."

"Where did you get Regulus' name from anyway. I don't know of any star with that name."

"Not all Black's are named after stars you know. There is no Walberga in the constellations. Regulus though is the main star in the Leo constellation. I believe he was good friends with The Dog Star, though you would have to ask Arcas that."

"Fair enough. What do you think is going to happen to Arcas? Dumbledore is not going to let him leave in the middle of a war."

"Sirius, you worry too much. He is a star, if he wants to leave, then he will." Walberga said, noticing the frown on her son's face and sighing.

"That won't stop Dumbledore form doing something to prolong Arcas' stay. He has already managed to make it so that Arcas lasts out the school year. What else will he do?"

"You forget that the stars watch over us. If one of their own is in trouble, they will not stay in one place. In which case, nights are going to become a whole lot more dark."

--

"So Remus, you're a werewolf?" Arcas asked bluntly, placing the robe in his hands into the wardrobe.

Remus coughed in shock and looked up form the bags he was sorting out to look at Arcas in shock. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I was wondering why you look so old." Arcas said innocently, not aware of how insulting he was actually being.

"I look- I _am_ old." Remus pointed out, making Arcas frown.

"You're but a small child compared to me. Anyway, even in the wizarding world you are relatively young. I don't see how you can look so old."

"Well it is common knowledge that Were's do not live as long as normal witches and wizards. I have been a Werewolf since I was four. I am one of the longest living Werewolves in recent history."

"Well it's a common knowledge lie. Who told you that? Why would the moon want to kill her most beloved creatures. You reject the wolf don't you?" Arcas asked, looking down at his hands, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve.

"I don't know what you mean? I dislike being a werewolf yes. Why would anyone wish this upon themselves?" Remus asked, sitting down on the bed and looking at Arcas, placing a hand on his wrist to stop his playing with his sleeve.

Arcas looked up at Remus and smiled softly, "There was a time when it was considered a gift. You are one of the chosen. It is no mistake what you are, and the fact that you were only four when you were chosen just goes to show your strength. The Lady Moon would not allow any of her children to suffer and die before their time. Unless they reject her, then she can do nothing to help you."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, you keep drinking whatever it is that they are giving wolves nowadays and lessen your connection with Lady Moon. She can't see you, but she still affects you. It is the same if you ignore and begin to resent her. You should have been taught this when you were created."

"My sire ran off. He was chased out of the village by the rest of the villagers after I had been bitten."

"So he could not have stuck around to help you adjust. You were raised by werewolf fearing humans and learnt to reject the wolf before you even accepted it." Arcas said sadly, sitting down on the bed next to the confused werewolf.

"So you're saying if Fenrir had stuck around, then I would have accepted my wofl and been in less pain."

"Pretty much yeah! It's not so easy anymore though. Sure you can tell yourself that you accept the wolf, but deep down your mind won't believe you and come next month you'll still be in pain."

"So you're saying that I won't ever be able to change?" Remus whispered in shock, looking down at his own clasped hands on his lap.

"No. I'm just saying it's not going to be easy. Eventually you actually will be able to change. You just need to believe it yourself when you say you accept your wolf. Plus you will need to actually find your wolf and talk to him. And he's gonna be pissed." Arcas added cheerfully, making Remus groan and looking at him in shock.

"What do you mean? My wolf? I can talk to my wolf? And not be considered crazy?" Remus asked, looking up at Arcas.

"Why would you be considered crazy? And of course you can speak to him. We Stars consider it very healthy to talk to our other sides. Whom else would we speak to before we mated?" Arcas asked innocently with a bright smile, making Remus groan and shake his head and the, quite possibly, clinically insane Star.

--

"We need a... a plan of action or something." Sirius said after he had left to the kitchen to get some snacks and then returned back to his mothers portrait and settled down for a long talk.

"A plan of action for what?" Walberga asked, munching on an apple from one of the surrounding portraits.

"Arcas and his mate. Let's be honest now, do you trust Dumbledore to not interfere? Seriously? I mean I know he said he wouldn't, but it's the way he worded it. It's bugging me."

"That would be because you are neither stupid nor naïve. He worded it in such a way that meant he would somehow make it so that if he found the mate before you did, he could probably hide him so that Arcas never did find him until Dumbledore wanted him to."

"Oh god. What if he does find him before us?"

"How, my dear son, would he find Arcas' mate before Arcas himself did? _No_ _one_ knows who it is. I think you should start to keep an eye on Arcas though. He will begin to show an interest in those that are alike to his mate. It has been known for a Star to confuse a family member of their mate _for_ their mate. Obviously that was until they spoke to the mistaken person."

"So will Dumbledore know this?"

"I honestly don't know. I think it would be best to keep an eye on them though. Phineas will be keeping an eye on Dumbledore in his office for us. Hopefully we will be able to stay one step ahead of the Headmaster. Stay close to our little star when school begins. That will be the hardest time for him. He will soon begin to feel the need to find his mate. You can't allow him to just leave though. Do not let him be on his own in November. It is when his constellation is least visible in the sky,and thus it supposed to be his mating season. He will become desperate then and Dumbledore will find it easiest to manipulate him."

"How come it's when he is least visible?" Sirius muttered to himself, making Walberga raise an eyebrow and smirk.

"Why do you think he is least visible? It's because he's going to be finally learning the facts of life." Walberga said, actually grinning when he son went green.

"Oh I so didn't need to hear that. I so didn't need to hear that." Sirius muttered, covering his ears with his hands to block out his mothers cackling.

--

Inside of Dumbledore's office several members of the Order were meeting. Remus and Sirius were notably _not_ part of the meeting. Much to no ones confusion.

"I will now this meeting to order. First off, does anyone have anything they need to share?" Dumbledore asked, looking around the room at the sparse group. Besides himself, only the two oldest Weasley's, (though he was considering adding the two youngest as well, they were the nearest in age to Arcas. Perhaps the young Granger as well.) Kingsley, Tonks and Mad Eye. He had asked Snape to join also, however, the man had become increasingly paranoid since Harry Potter had returned and now refused to be a part of the Order, preferring to report to Dumbledore when he was alone. Dumbledore wasn't entirely sure why, it wasn;t as though there was a spy within the order. He would know.

"Ron and Ginny have continued to show an interest in joining to Order when they leave Hogwarts. In fact I believe that they wish to join now, however I refuse to allow them to join until they are of age." Molly said, sitting up straight in her seat and looking at Dumbledore with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, well I was considering allowing them to join when the new Hogwarts years starts. I wish for them to befriend our new little Star. And speaking of Harry, I have a new agenda we will need to set into place."

"What is that Albus?" Moody asked, false eye spinning in it's socket.

"It is imperative that we find Harry's mate before he does. We cannot allow such a huge advantage in this war for us to leave us. Be sure that he will once he finds his mate. Never has it been recorded of a Star staying for longer than a week once they have found their mate."

"You wish for us to keep a Star away from it's mate?" Tonks asked, stunned.

"Yes,I realise how cruel it may sound. However, that Star may well be the turning point in this war. Without him, Merlin knows how long this war will continue. And there is no guessing which side will win."

"I agree with Albus. We must somehow find out who the mate is and keep him away from the Star." Moody said gruffly.

"I... I can't be a part of this." Tonks said, standing up from her seat nest to Kingsley and walking over to the door.

"Now Nymphadora. It is not as bad as it sounds. Once Harry has done his duty to us, we shall introduce him to his mate and allow him to leave." Dumbledore said soothingly.

"No. I may have a different last name, and I may not agree with many of their beliefs, but I am first and foremost, a Black. I grew up hearing the stories from my mother about the Stars. We help them find their mate, _not_ hide their mate form them!!! I cannot allow you to do this!! I'm sorry Professor, but I can't be a part of this plan. I just can't." Tonks said quietly, looking at the ground, her hand not leaving the door knob.

"In which case Ms Tonks. I am sorry to say, but I just cannot allow you to ruin our plan. _Obliviate_." Dumbledore gently placed his wand back on his desk, and looked at a now confused looking Auror. "So as I was saying Ms Tonks. It would perhaps be best if you could try to find out if anyone in the ministry is sympathetic to our side."

"Erm...Sure... Well I suppose I should leave then and er...start that." Tonks said, holding her hand to her head before shaking it and leaving the office in confusion.

--

Callisto, also known as Urse Major, or Arcas' mother, watched the meeting going on in Dumbledore's office with growing ire. Astronomers all over the world watched in awe as the main star of the Ursa Major glowed brighter than ever for a brief moment then suddenly winked out of sight.

Callisto was not impressed with Dumbledore and no one messed with her son. He was all she had and she would not allow anyone to jeopardise his future happiness. Even if it meant joining the war and not on the side of the so called Light. Her son _would_ be happy and content with his mate.... And soon if she had anything to do with it.

The main star of the Ursa Major narrowed her eyes as she appeared in front of the one person she knew, who could tell her who her sons mate was. Dumbledore would not harm her son or his mate.

**A/N – Oh wow, this took ages to finish!! I'm sooo sorry!! I just have had so much on my plate at the moment. Not including going to New York for a small break for my mum's fiftieth. I also had to take the entrance exam for medical school, though I have no idea if I got in until later in the year... Anyways, enough excuses.... Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint and don't forget, the poll on who Arcas' mate is is still open, though it is only between the two eldest Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, and this truly I the last chapter you get to vote... One will be making a guest appearance in the next chapter. So get voting and I will tell you who won it next chapter... I also promise that I will not extend the poll anymore after this chapter as well... Heh. **

**Thank you to everyone who has voted so far, this chapter is dedicated to all of you wonderful, wonderful people and please do review this chapter!!! Also (Shameless plug time)... I've posted another story which is a Supernatural/Harry Potter crossover... Please go check it out and tell me what you think!!! Pretty please!!! **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"So? You excited?" Remus asked Arcas as he helped Arcas pack up all the stuff he would need for his year in Hogwarts.

"Excited? About what?" Arcas asked, tilting his head to the side which made Remus want to coo, before he pulled himself together.

"Teaching! Putting knowledge into the heads of people who look up to you!" Remus said, he really liked teaching, it made him feel so important in those young peoples lives.

"Yeah. Perhaps." Arcas said, making Remus frown at his hesitance.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I have just never been near so many people before, except when we went shopping that one time, and when I went searching for my mate. Besides that, I stayed alone, hid in hotel rooms. I don't like crowds." Arcas admitted with a shrug. Remus frowned and then grabbed Arcas' shoulders in a hug.

"You'll be fine! You just need to get used to it. You will only ever be around the students when you are teaching them anyway, and classes normally only have around twenty students. Two houses from each year. You'll be fine."

"Maybe. I won't really know until it happens so there really is no need to worry. I don't have to teach them anything other than History do I?" Arcas asked suddenly, worry crossing his face.

"No, why? Would that be an issue?" Remus asked, frowning at the Star now nibbling his lower lip.

"Well... I don't know anything do I? I only know what I watched for three thousand years. Which is a lot of history. Some of it is even useful! Though I'd imagine that no one really wants to know most of the things I picked up. Like Napoleons favourite breakfast." Arcas muttered, making Remus grin in amusement.

"You'll be fine. If someone asks you something you don't know, then jus send them my way or Sirius'. Though you may want to send them to me first..." Remus added as an after thought.

--

Arcas looked at the castle in front of him in awe. It was huge, and quite impressive. He was going to get lost almost straight away, he just knew it. Unless he just never left the classroom. Then he wouldn't have to deal with the crowds either.

Arcas nibbled on his lip as he followed Sirius and Remus up the steps and into the castle. Inside Dumbledore was waiting for him with a twinkle in his eyes, which Arcas wondered how he got and if it was a spell or not.

"Now then Mr... Ah, it would seem you need a last name." Dumbledore said with a twinkle. "No worries, we can tell everyone that your last name is Potter. It will help when we announce you as Harry."

Arcas frowned at the meddling old man, "Actually, there is no need."

"My dear boy, you need a last name. Whatever shall the students refer to you as?" Albus said, making Arcas grind his teeth.

"Not as a Potter. I have not been a part of that family since I was six, over three and a half thousand years ago. Perhaps I could come to you with a name of my choice Professor Dumbledore." Arcas said with a sweet smile.

"Of course my dear boy! Now, I will show you to your rooms. They are not far from your classroom on the second floor."

"Actually, I was wondering if I could stay in the same rooms as Remus. It would make me feel a lot more comfortable." Arcas admitted quietly. He really didn't want to be staying in a set of rooms on his own.

"Well I am sure I can get the House elves to sort that out, as long as that is okay with Remus." Dumbledore said, looking at Remus and Sirius. Both of whom looked shocked at the request, though there was a hint of hurt in Sirius' eyes.

"How come you don't want to stay with me? I'll let you move in with me! We can catch up!" Sirius said with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I think I would feel more comfortable with Remus. No offence, but I feel protected by the wolf." Arcas said with a small smile and a shrug.

"Well, as long as that is what you want Arcas, then by all means, you can move into my spare room." Remus said, still looking slightly shocked, though his face showed his happiness.

"Ah, well then that's settled. I'll have the House Elves take your luggage to your rooms then. Please make yourselves at home. I'll see you at dinner tonight to introduce you to the school. I will need your surname by then." Dumbledore said with a somewhat strained smile before turning and walking back to his office.

"Wow. You pissed off Dumbledore. I'm impressed Arcas." Sirius said, clapping him on the back and making Arcas fly a good few feet forward before he regained his balance.

--

At the start of year feast Arcas was a bundle of nerves. He had to endure all the returning students staring at him, the giggles of the majority of female students and also a fair few male ones, which made him twitch uncomfortably. The wait between the returning students and the first years getting sorted seemed to be never ending, even with both Remus and Sirius trying to take his mind off it.

"You'll be fine Arcas. Have you told Dumbledore what your last name is yet?" Remus asked, placing a hand on Arcas' shoulder.

"Yes, I told him when I came in. Why do you think they are all staring at me? And why are they giggling?" Arcas asked, looking at the students nervously.

"They think you're hot. So they giggle and imagine you and them together." Sirius said bluntly, making Arcas frown and Remus gape at him.

"I can't believe you just said that!"

"Doing what?" Arcas asked, making both men snap their heads to look at him at break neck speeds.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked warily, ignoring the motions Sirius was making to make him shut up.

"Well what are they imagining us doing? Can't be very exciting." Arcas said, looking thoroughly confused and not noticing the muffled laughter coming from Flitwick, who was sitting next to Remus.

"Er... I believe, to them, it is very exciting." Sirius said, making Arcas look even more confused and Remus to look upwards as though asking for help from a higher being.

"Oh. Women are strange. You don't think my mate will be like that do you?" Arcas asked, nibbling on his lower lip, and fiddling with the cutlery on the table in front of him.

"No, of course not. For one thing, you told us that your mate was a male." Remus pointed out, making Arcas smile and thus making half the female population of Hogwarts sigh loudly.

Finally, much to Arcas' relief, Hagrid appeared and led the first years into the hall, all the other students hushed and watched McGonagall as she put the stool down in front of the hall then nodded to Hagrid in thanks.

Arcas watched all this in slight bemusement and then stunned disbelief as a tatty hat was placed on the stool and then actually sang to them. Arcas didn't actually take in what was being sung, he was far too impressed and shocked that the hat was actually singing to begin with. Then he worried that his hat might do the same and quickly dragged the white hat off his head, much to the amusement of the teachers around him.

"Don't worry, I have yet to meet another singing hat besides that one." Remus whispered. Arcas smiled at him but still didn't put his hat back on and shoved it away from him on the table.

"As I call your names, you will come forward and place the hat on your head to be sorted. Allet, Marie." A small girl with her blonde hair tied back in pigtails walked forward nervously and sat on the stool, placing the hat on her head.

Arcas watched with fascination as the girl seemed to be communicating with the hat on her head, which didn't exactly make Arcas any more inclined to put his hat back on.

"Is that normal?" Arcas whispered to Sirius, seeing as Remus actually seemed to be paying attention and clapped when the girl was sorted into Slytherin. Arcas quickly clapped and then turned back to Sirius.

"Yeah, the hat talks to you in your mind to find out which house you are best suited to." Sirius whispered back, making Arcas look at him as though he were insane and then shove his hat all the way off the other end of the table.

"This world is strange. I don't belong here." Arcas whispered in panic.

"Yeah you do. How much more magical can you get than a Star? Like a living Star!" Sirius whispered excitedly, making Remus look at them disapprovingly.

"Stars are more physics than magic." Arcas pointed out bluntly, not even bothering to whisper seeing as the hat chose that moment to yell out another students house.

"Oh yes, because I'm sure every Muggle learns of the point when a Star will come and visit for tea and crumpets." Sirius said sarcastically, making Arcas blush then frown.

"What's a crumpet?"

Sirius sighed, but didn't have a chance to answer though, because at that moment the final student got sorted and Dumbledore stood, silencing the entire hall.

"Ah, welcome and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. As you can see, we have a new professor, and a new subject to learn. Please welcome Professor Orsini." Dumbledore said, gesturing to Arcas, who smiled and waved shyly, making many students sigh. "Ah, yes, he will be teaching a new subject, History of War. He will be more than willing to talk to any of you if you have any questions.

"I would also like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is just that, and there will be severe consequences for anyone found in the Forest. There is also a new list for the year of banned items. It can be found outside Argus Filch's office. Now, I believe that I everything I need to announce, so... Dig in!"

The food suddenly appeared in front of everyone, making the first years gasp in astonishment and Arcas the look at the food suspiciously.

"I may be somewhat naïve as to this world and how it runs, but I'm pretty sure food is not supposed to appear in front of you. Where does it come from?" Arcas asked, prodding at the chicken Remus placed in front of him.

"The house elves make it and send it up using their magic." Remus explained, whilst Sirius placed some more food on the plate in front of him.

"Just try it, I have yet to find food better than Hogwarts food." Sirius pointed out, digging into his own food and smiling reassuringly at Arcas.

"Do they wash their hands?" Arcas asked, still looking at the food on his plate as though it were about to attack him.

"What on earth do you need to now that for?" Siirus asked, looking at his godson in startled confusion.

"I'd imagine they do. Sirius is right though, why do you want to know?"

"Do you know how many people have died of food poisoning. Only in the last century or so have the numbers started to decrease due to scientist discovering bacteria."

"Er... I really don't think that is a problem here. You do realise that all the food you ate at Grimmauld place was prepared by a house elf. Plus, you're a Star, do you really think you would get food poisoning?" Remus asked, making Arcas smile sheepishly but still not touch the food.

"I don't need to eat. Whole benefit of being a Star I suppose. It won't nourish me, just make me feel a bit stodgy." Arcas muttered, prodding at a potato half-heartedly.

"We know that Arcas, but we agreed that you would eat the food at the feast otherwise it would look a bit suspicious." Sirius said soothingly, handing the distressed Star a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"I know, but I will have to go and find some real food for me soon. It has been far too long since I had something decent to eat." Arcas said, looking mournfully at his plate. "I don't like this anymore. It's seeming less like an adventure and more like a mess. I don't even know who my mate is or if I'll be meeting him anytime soon."

"Cheer up. It won't be that bad. You'll find your mate soon enough and then you'll be free to do whatever you wish or leave if that is what you want."

"How will I find him? Dumbledore has efficiently trapped me here for at least a year. I don't like this anymore. I want to go home and be with my mother and her mate."

"What has made you think all this? You were fine earlier today." Sirius pointed out, making Arcas pout and cross his arms.

"I'm hungry and everyone is staring at me. I want my mate and I want to go home." Arcas said sulkily, making Remus sigh and Sirius roll his eyes.

"Right then. What do you normally eat?"

"Fire. I consume fire, normally the fire of my home. How else do you think we glow." Arcas asked despondently.

"And the fact that you haven't eaten anything for at least a month would be the reason that you are no longer glowy?" Sirius asked, feeling a little guilty at being one fot he reasons his godson had been starving himself.

"Pretty much."

"So where will we get the fire you need?"

"You won't. I'll have to appear near a source. There aren't many left on earth anymore."

"Any what?" Remus asked, taking his attention away from his plate to look at Arcas interestedly.

"Volcanoes."

"Pardon? I could have swore you said volcanoes." Remus said, trying to cover up the fact that he had spat his mouthful of pumpkin juice across the table. Sirius sniggered at his friends plight, but looked at Arcas curiously as well.

"Yes. There is a substance in them that I believe you call lava. It is the nearest thing to what I consume from my home that you can get here." Arcas explained with a shrug. The food in front of them disappeared and then reappeared with desserts instead and making Arcas look at the food with suspicion once more.

Remus sighed and placed some cherry pie on his plate, followed by a couple of scoops of ice cream before turning to Arcas. "Okay, so you need to go inside a volcano later on tonight. Right now though, do you want to try and at least eat something?"

"Fine." Arcas said with a frown and picked a muffin to nibble on.

--

later that night, after the start of term feast, some Gryffindor's were sitting up in the common room, discussing a certain new professor.

"Was it me, or did he not seem quite so attractive when we met him earlier this year?" Ginny asked, just one step away from sighing, making Ron look at her in horror.

"You met him earlier in the summer? What is he like? What did he say?" Lavender Brown said, leaning forward eagerly. Parvati shuffled forward in her seat and Seamus grinned widely.

"Oh yeah, we met him. He was even more hot close up. I dunno what Ginny is on about." Seamus said, making Ron and Neville look at each other and roll their eyes.

"So? What else do you know? Where's he from? How old is he? I mean, he doesn't look that much older than us." Parvati pointed out.

"Yeah, that's what we thought. Apparently though, he is over three thousand years old. If that's true, that means he's not a human!" Ron said, making the three that weren't at Grimmauld Place over the summer look at him.

"Really? I wonder what he is!" Lavender exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, that's what we were wondering. Me and Hermione searched all of our books to see if there were any clues, but we couldn't find anything! He is rather attractive though, isn't he." The females in the group and Seamus all nodded in agreement with Ginny, making Ron gasp in betrayal.

"Hermione! Not you as well!"

"Well he is attractive Ron. Even you have to get over your prejudices and accept that." Hermione said, making Ron gape at her. "And close your mouth, you'll catch flies."

"But we don't know what he is! He could be a vampire!"

"Don't be ridiculous Ronald. We met him in broad daylight. There aren't many Vampires strong enough that can do that." Ginny said, the rest of the Gryffindor's laughing at the arguing trio.

"Actually, if he is over a thousand, and if what he told you is true, then he is way over that, then he wouldn't have any trouble at all with walking in the daylight for a couple of hours." Parvati pointed out, making Ron look smug and Ginny to gape at her and then huff, crossing her arms over he chest.

"Well, what does it matter? Dumbledore obviously trusts him to teach us, so he is obviously safe to be around. And with more than three thousand years under his belt, I think he has learnt control. That is _if _he is a vampire. He could be something else."

"What?" Ron asked, making Ginny blush and shrug.

"I don't know. Hermione and I didn't find out anything else."

"This is all very interesting but what did he seem like? Did you learn anything else interesting about him?"

"Um... his first name is Arcas? We didn't really talk to him for that long. He was leaving just as we arrived." Neville said with a shrug, making the other three groan and pelt him with cushions.

--

"Order! This meeting of the Order has now started. Does anyone here have any idea on who Harry's mate is? As you all know, he is now a teacher at Hogwarts and so will not be allowed to leave the school premises until the holidays." Dumbledore said, making the small group gathered in front of him nod in agreement.

"Well we have come up with a few people it can't be, and thus narrowing the group. It is obviously no one female, as he said so himself. It is also no one here, nor anyone he met whilst at Grimmauld place. Of course this is assuming that we know his mate and that they are even a wizard!" Moody growled, slamming his hand down on the chair arm.

"It is a wizard Moody. He is a Star, a Muggle wouldn't be able to cope with it." Kingsley stated.

"Exactly, there is also something else that I have researched. He said, that when he arrived, his mate was still here in England, but that he is no longer sure that his mate is still here in England. I checked all astronomy notes over the past couple of months and I have managed to find out when he possibly came. There were only three events in Britain wizarding world that are note worthy."

"What? And do we have a list of people attending? We can at least then narrow them down to the more likely people." Molly said, the others gathered in the office agreeing with her.

"Well two should be easy to get the guest lists for. It would be your young Bill's wedding. Another would be an election party at the ministry and the last would be the graduation ball here. All were held on the same weekend."

"Well I can get a list for the wedding and I'm sure you have a list for Graduation." Molly said, smiling happily at the chance to help.

"Indeed. Arthur, Kingsley, I will need for you to try and get the ministry guest list for us. We can take off all females, then narrow them down to people who possibly left the country."

"Well that will be easy for us. Charlie, his friend he brought with him, and Bill and his friends from Egypt. Everyone else live in England."

"We'll add them to the list then. It doesn't matter if they are married or not, the Star will not care."

"So what shall we do when we have a main suspect of Harry's mate?" Moody asked.

"We find them and hide them. Harry must not find his mate until Voldemort is dead."

--

Two weeks into the school year and a young, red haired man ran through the halls towards the Headmasters office with a sheet of paper in his hands. Passing by Arcas and Remus as they made their way down to visit Sirius in his rooms the floor below them.

"Remus, who was that?" Arcas asked, sounding a little breathless.

"I believe it was one of the eldest Weasley sons. Not sure which though. Why?"

"Because I think it was my mate."

--

Later that day, Arcas, Sirius and Remus walked into the Great Hall and noticed Bill Weasley sitting at the head table next to Dumbledore, talking in low murmurs.

"Ah." Remus said, stopping just before walking though the open doors. Sirius nibbled on his lower lip and glanced at Arcas, who was staring at Bill with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Arcas asked quietly, not taking his eyes off of Bill, who had now noticed and was beginning to shift in his seat a little.

"He's married." Remus said, as Sirius placed a comforting hand on Arcas' shoulder.

"Married? What's that? I remember watching something about that. Is it when humans tie knots? And they get dressed up in strange clothes for the day. I never got the tying knots thing though. I never saw anyone tie any." Arcas muttered to himself, whilst Remus and Sirius looked at him as though he has grown an extra head.

"It is when two people decide that they love each other so much that they wish to spend their life together and make their relationship official and recognised by the law." Remus said, realising that there was a more likely chance that Arcas had no idea what he was saying. The small smile and blank eyes on Arcas' face only further solidified that.

"Oh. Right."

"Look, never mind right? You said you weren't sure it was your mate. You only saw him for a couple of seconds. Lets go meet him and stop standing here getting funny looks from the staff and students." Sirius said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other as everyone in the hall glanced at them.

The three sighed in unison and made their way up to the table, taking the three empty seats next to Bill. Arcas made sure he was in the middle of Remus and Sirius.

"Hi, I'm Bill. You must be Arcas Orsini. Please to meet you." Bill said, leaning around Remus to shake Arcas' hand. Arcas smiled weakly and quickly took his hadn back when Bill let go.

"Hi." Arcas said, before shrinking back into his seat and leaning into Sirius, "He's not my mate. But he was close to him not long ago." Arcas said quietly, not realising that Remus, Bill and Dumbledore all heard him.

No one, but Bill noticed that Dumbledore had an extra twinkle in his eyes as he turned to talk to McGonagall on his left.

--

Above Ireland, a star fell out of the sky. Well that is what parents told their children. Astronomers of course, knew that it was nothing more that space debris hitting the earths atmosphere and that there would have been nothing left as it seemingly hit earth.

The parents were closer to the truth. Two stars and their mates arrived on the southern most coast, being met by another.

Callista had arrived to help her son, and had brought with her Sirius and Dorea and her own mate, Alethea. Regulus (the Star) met them and then the three disappeared from the beach in a barely seen flash just as a group of muggles came to investigate the supposed fallen star.

--

"My Lord. I have news on the stranger spotted in Diagon Alley." A cloaked figure came to kneel in front of the Dark Lord sitting on his new throne.

"What have you found out?"

"It is a Star searching for his mate My Lord. But that is not all. The Star's name is Arcas and he is currently teaching at Hogwarts."

"I already knew that. If you have nothing else new to tell me..." Voldemort trailed off, aiming his wand at the minion in front of him.

"No! I realise you knew that My Lord. However, Arcas Orsini is not the Stars real name."

"It isn't? Do you know what it is?"

"Harry Potter."

The high pitched laughter of the Dark Lord echoed through the halls, making the Death Eaters in attendance cringe and glance behind them in fear.

**Okay, so this chapter took a wee while longer to write than normal. However, things are beginning to move along now. The main thing, Dumbledore now has a clue as to who Arcas' mate is. There also seems to be a spy within the Order... Whoever could I be? You can guess all you like, but you will never find out until I decide to tell you! Lol! **

**Hopefully I haven't disappointed anyone with this chapter. The pairing is now set, as you can probably guess. Harry/Charlie it is. I'll admit, I'm rather happy with the result. It was very close though, there was only five between it. Which shocked me, I'll admit that. **

**Thank you for the reviews so far, the response has shocked me so much!! I'm so glad so many of you like it. Please review this chapter and if you have any questions, please ask them, I promise to reply!! I do try to reply as soon as I can, and I do eventually!! Promise!! **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Arcas nervously shuffled is papers about in front of him. Why he had agreed to teach he had no idea. For one thing he had never taught, nor had he ever been taught for that matter. Well he had been taught to read and write when he was still human, but that was a long time ago and so he couldn't actually remember what it was like being taught. Which was a bitch. More so for his new students than for him.

Still, he could just talk to them about the wars. Maybe see if anyone actually knew _anything_ about their past. Shame no one knew where the Weres had gone. He would have invited them in to talk about their war. Maybe Remus knew something about them.

The first class of the year for him was seventh year Gryffindor and Slytherin. Which made him nervous from the chuckles he got from Sirius and Remus. The seventh years walked into the room, several of them clearly had something in their eyes, which was worrying.

Arcas shuffled the papers on his desk once more and then stood up and looked at the students, walking over to close the door behind the last one.

"Ah, hi. I'm Professor Orsini. Erm... I'll be teaching you about the wars of past. Before we begin, do you have any questions?" Arcas asked, leaning against his desk and looking around the room and pointing to a Slytherin in the back. "Er... Sorry I don't know anyone's names. You have a question?"

"Blaise Zabini, sir. What exactly will you be teaching us? We learn enough about Goblin Rebellions in History of Magic, so will you also be covering those?" Blaise asked, getting glared at by a majority of the girls with their hands in the air.

"Ah, well I will be avoiding the Goblin Rebellions manly because you are taught them in another class, but also because they do not really apply to wizards. I will be starting today's class with the Were's war held about ten years ago. Any other questions? Yes?" Arcas asked, pointing to a sandy haired Gryffindor.

"Seamus Finnegan sir. Are you single?" He asked with a cheeky grin. Arcas flushed bright red and looked at Seamus in horror.

"Er... I meant questions about this class. Not about my private life." Arcas said, frowning and managing to control his blush.

"So is that a yes sir?"

"That is a none of your business. Anymore questions about this class? Yes?"

"Theodore Nott. Are you a pureblood?"

"I have no idea what that has to do with this lesson, but yes. I am definitely pureblooded. Which means I will definitely be able to teach you about the history of your wars. Now shall we begin with the actually lesson whilst we have time?" Arcas said, walking back behind his desk and to the blackboard behind it. He tapped his wand on it, using one of the only spells he actually knew to record the information on it that he needed.

"Right then. As I said, today we would be learning of the Were's war. It was held ten years ago and lasted for nearly three. It was held between the main Wereleopard pard based in Italy and the largest Wererat clan based in Spain. The war managed to drag in the other, smaller clans and pards, and also the other Were's. It didn't really gain the attention of the Wizarding world however. For some reason you all believe yourselves above the Were's, which isn't entirely true.

"However, one event happened that managed to make the wizarding world of Europe stand up and take note. Anyone know what?" Arcas smiled as he noticed several students hands shoot up. Maybe the wizards in this world did know their history.

--

"So? How did your first lesson go?" Remus asked, walking into Arcas' classroom when his seventh years had left.

"It was alright. They knew some of their history, which was nice to learn." Arcas said, clearing the notes off the board and then turning to search out his notes for the next class.

"What did you teach them?"

"The Were's War. It fascinated me when I watched it. Though the loss of lives was something that was upsetting. Especially for us in the sky. We feel a connection with you, you know?"

"Yeah, don't worry the feeling is mutual. Well at least it is for the wolves. I'd imagine it's the same for the others. Even if I didn't really realise that they actually existed anymore."

"Well I was just proud that some of them actually knew the reason why the wiarding world took notice. Even a couple of muggleborns. Well one."

"Miss Granger?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"She generally likes to er... over achieve. She is very intelligent but I worry that it will all be book smarts. She likes to read ahead to prove that she does know stuff."

"Ah, well she did know some of the facts, but I found that Mr Zabini knew the most. Some of the stuff that Miss Granger was telling me was in fact ministry spouted propaganda. She needs to research her facts a bit better or else she will insult someone." Arcas said, nibbling on his lower lip once again as he sorted out his notes.

"I know what you mean. However, I don't think she is ever going to change. Which is a shame. So who do you have next?"

"I have a free, then I have the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Why are Gryffindor and Slytherin always together?" Arcas asked, looking at his schedule.

"Ah, that would be the Headmasters plan to try and make the Slytherins and Gryffindor's to actually get on." Remus said, shifting a little to get comfortable on the desk.

"Oh. Is it working?"

"No."

"Ah, right. So where's Sirius?" Arcas asked, looking for someway to change the subject and noticing that his... Godfather wasn't there.

"Ah, he isn't as fortunate as us and has a lesson right now. I believe it is his turn for the seventh year Gryffindor's and Slytherin's." Remus said with a smirk.

"Oh, well good luck to him then." Arcas said with a slight smirk.

--

The rest of the day went pretty much the same wit all of his classes. As it was a new class, he had decided he would be teaching pretty much the same things, just at different times. And with less detail for the lower years. It seemed to be working. At least for the time being. There was one tiny little problem though.

His last lesson of the day, his sixth year Gyrffindor's and Slytherin's was... unusual. For one, when one girl entered, Ginny Weasley if he remembered correctly, she fell right into him, making him catch her. Which was strange. Especially as he was standing on the opposite side of the desk to the door.

Then there was the small cat fight between six of the girls to get the four seats at the front of the room. He had no idea how to deal with that, so he just separated them and made them all sit at the back.

And finally, at the end of the class, one of the males actually came up to him and asked him how he got such a good figure. Which was odd. Especially when he decided to try and feel Arcas' chest. Why he would need to do that, he had no idea.

Oh yes, and then there was the note he found in his pocket, telling him to go to the Astronomy tower that night at midnight for 'the time of his life'. Why he would want to go up there, he had no idea. Add on the fact that sitting on the top of a dusty, cold tower was not his idea of the time of his life.

Maybe Sirius and Remus would know. There were also the whispers he heard during dinner. Why anyone would need to know if someone was good in bed, he had no idea. Not that he knew _what _you could be good at in bed. Maybe they wondered if he was a good sleeper. He would admit that he could normally get a good eight hours, when he needed to. He was a Star though, generally they didn't sleep that much.

Sirius laughed at him when he asked what that one girl, who smelt a bit... sweet... meant when she said he made her feel tingly downstairs. He hadn't meant to brush against her, and he was pretty sure that he hadn't actually touched her skin.

Humans were just plain strange. He also had yet to find out what everyone meant when they said he would enjoy the mating. Of course he would enjoy meeting his mate. What they would do to finalise the mating though. No one would tell him.

Like he said. Humans were strange.

--

Dumbledore had called the two elder Weasley's and their children, Bill and the twins, to his office, along with the rest of the inner Order.

"I have called you to tell you that I know who Arcas' mate is." Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Who?"

"Er... Why are we here?" Fred asked, the other two Weasley brothers nodding next to him.

"Ah, well, it would be because the mate is your brother. I have reason to believe the mate of Harry is young Charlie."

"What? Why do you think that?" Molly asked, fanning herself and clinging onto Arthur's arm.

"He had a reaction towards you, Bill. He believed that that meant that his mate was related to someone close to you. Or related to you. The main candidate, someone who fits all the possibilities is Charlie."

"So what do you need us to do?" Moody asked, ignoring Molly who looked like she wanted to disagree or complain.

"I need to come up with a plan to keep him away from Harry."

"Why? Surely it is a good thing to be the mate of a Star and Arcas seems pretty cool. Well when we met him over the summer. Why are you keeping them apart?" George asked, frowning at his parents, who seemed to be in agreement with this plan.

"We need young Harry to win this war. He cannot be allowed to mate and then leave. If he mates with Charlie, then he will leave this war behind and I cannot allow this."

"So you want to keep two people who are meant for one another apart? That's a bit cruel don't you think?" Bill asked, making Arthur look away in shame.

"That maybe but this is for the greater good. Now, is there anyway to keep Charlie in Romania, if not, then we will have to put him somewhere."

"You will have one hell of a problem on your hands if you did that. Charlie is an outdoor type. He would never forgive you if you locked him away. You'll be lucky if her forgives you for keeping him away from his soul mate. You won't have to worry though. Charlie will never leave his Dragons behind." Bill said

"Are you with us? Because I cannot have you telling anyone about this plan." Dumbledore said, gazing at the Weasley sons over his glasses.

"Fine, but I want it to be noted that I am not happy with this. I'm sure Fred and George will back me up on this one." Bill said, gaining nods from the two in question. "However we will not tell anyone and will give you any information you should need."

--

Voldemort was once again surprised by his special little mole in the Order arriving in his throne room and prostrating himself in front of him.

"Ah, what is it you wish to tell me? I hope it is good." Voldemort asked, stroking his wand and making the Death Eater in front of him shudder.

"Yes My Lord. I have learnt more of Harry Potter My Lord."

"Well?" Voldemort smirked when his Death Eater flinched away from a very cosy Nagini.

"My Lord. He has a mate."

"Of course he does! Why else would a Star come here? Who?" Voldemort hissed, beginning to think that perhaps he should just curse them even without a reason.

"Ah, my Lord, Dumbledore held a meeting tonight and told us he believes the Stars mate is Charlie Weasley."

"You mean they have not yet mated?"

"No My Lord."

"Find out where the Weasley lives and then we shall make our own plans to capture the mate of our little Star."

--

On a cold, grey day in mid September, a strange woman with long white hair walked down Diagon Alley. People stared at this strange being, with her otherworldly elegance. She seemed to glide through the streets with an elegance unseen before. Well except that one time another being such as her came to Diagon. People had to wonder if they were related.

The woman smiled at those she passed and entered Gringotts, quickly gaining the attention of the nearest Goblin she passed. Most of those present were most put out when Gringotts was suddenly closed to all and the doors were locked.

--

A week after the meetings of the Order and Voldemort found Charlie walking through the Dragon sanctuary in Romania, keeping an eye on the small, baby dragons inside of the pen he was walking around.

Charlie sighed as he noticed his supervisor coming towards him with a letter. It was probably from his parents, asking him to come home once again. They didn't seem to understand that he loved his Dragons and didn't _want _to leave them behind. Especially now that they had gotten word that Voldemort was showing an interest in Romania.

"Thanks Geoff. How's Thyme?" Charlie asked, taking the letter off his supervisor.

"She's alright. Her nest is okay, though she is beginning to get a little antsy, I think they are nearly ready to hatch. I assume that is another letter form your family?" Geoff asked, nodding towards the unopened letter in Charlies hand.

"Probably. Asking me to come home again."

"Well you'll never know until you open it. It can't be that bad."

"Yeah it can. You don't know my mother when she gets an Idea in-" Whatever Charlie was going to say was cut off as the letter in his hand turned into a portkey upon opening and whisked him away, leaving a very shocked and disturbed supervisor behind.

"Oh shit. That can't be good."

**SO another chapter. Well things are beginning to hot up. Personally I can't wait for Chapter twelve, where things begin to really take an effect. Who has taken Charlie away? You have quite a few factors searching for him. Not least Voldemort and Dumbledore! And who is the Spy? **

**I know this chapter is somewhat shorter than normal, and for that I apologise, I'm a little stressed right now, but I also wanted to write the next chapter! Also, this story isn't going to be very long and I think we are about half way, if not a little over. We'll see!**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you once again to everyone who has reviewed! It is greatly appreciated!!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The portkey dumped a nauseous Charlie on the floor in a dark room. He shakily stood up after a couple of deep breaths needed to keep his breakfast down and looked around him. It wasn't a room he had ever been to, which wasn't much of a surprise as he didn't think anyone he knew would send him a portkey without telling him.

So he assumed that it was someone he didn't know, and to be cautious, he readied his wand when he heard someone walking outside of the door and turned around quickly to face it.

He really hoped it wasn't Voldemort. That would not be a good thing. He also had no clue as to why he was even here in the first place. He didn't really have anything to do with the war going on back home, though yes, he was worried about his family and he supposed he could be used against them. But who even _knew_ where he was. The Romanian Dragon Colony was the biggest one in the world. A part of him was actually a little impressed with whoever had found him.

The only door to the room was unlocked and Charlie nervously faced it with his wand held at his side. He really hoped that it wasn't Voldemort on the other side of the door. Said door was suddenly flung open and in walked a complete stranger.

"Who are you?"

--

Another Order meeting was being held, and once again, all the Weasley's had been invited, including the two youngest this time. Miss Granger had also been invited, though Moody was now grumbling to himself about the state of security of this group and how Dumbledore was now letting anyone in.

"Right, well the first thing I suppose I should ask is how our new teacher is being received by the students. Ron, Ginny, Hermione?"

"Ah, well he is very popular with the females of the school and a good many of the males as well." Hermione said, getting a vigorous nod of agreement from Ginny.

"Yeah, he's a good teacher as well though I suppose. Knows what he's talking about, though he clearly supports the darker creatures. In fact, how do we know that he isn't dark?" Ron asked, scowling at no one in particular as Ginny scoffed at him and shook her head.

"He's not dark Ron! We've had this conversation! He's lovely! Oh mother, you must meet him! He's absolutely perfect1" Ginny gushed, making Ron look somewhat sickly and Molly to smile at her weakly.

"Oh that's lovely dear, maybe I will meet him soon over the holidays or something." Molly said, still smiling weakly before glancing over at Dumbledore.

"Ah, well as long as the response has been mostly positive, then that is all. I do have one other question to ask of your three. I have decided to make a student faction of the Order. I want you three the head it and find out any students who may be interested."

"Really sir? Oh that is amazing! Isn't it Ron?" Hermione said, sitting on the edge of her seat as she leaned forward to get nearer to Dumbledore.

"And you want us to lead this group?" Ron asked, stunned, not noticing Fred and George roll their eyes, making Bill smirk.

"Yes Mr Weasley. If you think you will be able to do this, then once you have left Hogwarts and those of your group that are in your year, will also be given a chance to join the real Order of the Phoenix."

"Oh wow Professor. That is an amazing opportunity." Hermione said, smiling widely. Dumbledore smiled at her, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"Now then, I would like to ask fro you three to come back to me at the end of the week with a list of possible students you would like to invite into your Order. In the mean time, I am afraid I am now going to have to ask you to leave as I need to speak with your parents about something."

"Of course professor. Come on, lets go discuss who we should invite." Ginny said, Ron and Hermione stood up and left, nodding to those left in the room as they left.

Once the door closed behind them Dumbledore turned back to face the members in front of him, his face serious.

"Now, we need to discuss what to do with young Charlie. Does anyone have any ideas? Bill, you are closest to your brother are you not? Do you have any idea of how to approach the subject?" Dumbledore asked, completely missing Bill clenching his teeth before smiling widely at him.

"I don't think you should tell him why you are hiding him away. If Charlie finds out about Arcas then he is going to want to meet him. He is insatiably curious, I mean he travelled across the world just to see Dragons!" Bill said, making Fred snicker behind his hand.

"Ah, so maybe we should send him a portkey in the post disguised as something else"

"No, definitely not." Fred said, shaking his head, George mirroring him.

"No, He wouldn't appreciate that, plus, at the end of the portkey he is likely to attack whoever is waiting for him." George added.

"Why can't we just leave him be? Arcas isn't going to be going to Romania anytime soon is he?" Bill asked, ignoring the huff from Moody.

"You don't know Stars. They will find their mate if no one stops them. That Star will find some reason to go to Romania, even if he doesn't really know why. Charlie cannot be left in that country unsupervised. In fact he can't be left alone at all!" Moody said.

"Alastor does have a point. In all the records I could find on Stars and their mates, which admittedly is not that many, they always found themselves in the same vicinity of their mate eventually. It is said that The Fates themselves are helping them." Dumbledore said, making the youngest Weasley's look at each other in confusion.

"Er... if that is the case, then surely it is futile to even make plans to keep them apart in the first place?" Bill stated.

"I don't like to agree with the boy, but he does have a point Albus."

"Now now, Charlie isn't even gay!" Molly stated, making the male Weasley's all look away.

"That will not matter to Arcas Molly. The bond is to whomever suits the Star the best and The Fates have decided that Charlie is the one." Dumbledore said, making Molly frown and huff in her seat.

"Yes, but I will not have my poor little boy being forced into a bond with someone he doesn't love! He isn't even attracted to!"

"Mum, Charlie's hardly a little boy anymore. He's twenty five, mum! Let him live his own life and make his own decisions!" Bill said, standing up in his anger.

"Bill does have a point Molly. Perhaps we should allow our son to grow up and let him go." Arthur said, patting Molly's hand and not noticing the frown on Dumbledore's face.

"Yes yes. In the mean tiem however, is there anyway that you can think of to perhaps get Charlie to live in a safe house with one of us as his Secret Keeper."

"Oh yes, what should we tell him? 'Hey Charlie, don't ask questions, you're just going to be dragged away from your Dragons and shoved into a completely secluded house with no contact to the outside world.' Yup, he'd just run at the chance there." Bill said sarcastically, getting glares from everyone in the room besides his brothers.

"Well really Bill. Don't talk to the Headmaster like that! I thought I'd brought you up better. I'm sorry for him Albus." Molly said, Bill rolled his eyes at her and then dodged the swat she aimed for his head.

"Well then I think that the best plan so far would be to send Charlie a portkey in the post which sends him to the safe house and then have the Secret Keeper to tell him what is going on and why he is in the house. We can make wards to ensure that he is not allowed out side of the house."

"So you're going to punish Charlie and make him a prisoner in a house he doesn't know?"

"Yep, that's going to make him sympathise with your cause." Fred and George stated, rolling their eyes.

"Be quiet boys, it's the only choice we have. I will not have any child of mine forced into a bond he cannot escape from. I agree Dumbledore. Do what you can." Molly said then standing up and leaving the room with Arthur close behind her. Bill, Fred and George all sighed in unison and walked out of the office, leaving Kinglsey, Moody and Dumbledore alone.

--

Once outside of the headmasters office the three Weasely brothers walked together through the halls and made their way outside before they all apparated away and appeared back in the Weasley twins shop.

"So what do we do?" Bill asked, sitting at the table in the back.

"We've got to tell them both."

"Bill, are you going to see Charlie any time soon?"

Bill sighed and shook his head before leaning forward and resting it on his hands on the table.

"Right, so we need to tell Charlie, and I think we should tell Arcas as well. Anyone actually meet him for longer than one Order meeting?" Bill asked eventually after a long silence.

"Nope, I think we all met him at the same time. Wait, you met him at the school didn't you?" George asked, moving a box off the table and turning purple.

"Oh yeah, but only at dinner and we didn't talk much. It was also when Dumbledore realised who his mate was. I think we should go to Hogwarts somehow and tell him." Bill told them, managing to actually ignore the fact that one of his younger brothers had turned purple.

"Without Dumbledore knowing." Fred added, trying to find the sweet that would turn George back to normal.

"Yeah, without Dumbledore knowing. Plus we need to get to Charlie before they do!" George added, taking an offered sweet from Fred and scowling when it turned his hair acid green.

"You look like a rainbow just vomited on you. I need to be going. I'll try and contact Charlie tomorrow." Bill said, standing up and walking out.

"He's right you know."

"I wouldn't if you knew what the damned products did!"

--

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, things were beginning to get more dangerous with the upcoming Hallowe'en ball. Students left, right centre were bombarding him with invites to the ball. Many not wearing much when asking him, which only confused Arcas even more. They were in Scotland after all, it was very cold.

Arcas had taken to hiding in the rooms he and Remus shared between classes, much to the amusement of Sirius and Remus. Arcas didn't understand why everyone was so interested in him. Did they not have mates as well?

"What's wrong Arcas?" Remus asked, walking into the room that Arcas was currently hiding in.

"I think the students in this school have gone crazy." Arcas mumbled from where his head was hidden in his arms.

"Pardon?"

"Crazy! The students in this school have gone crazy!"

"Arcas, calm down. Now, are you coming down to dinner? Dumbledore was just asking me."

"No."

"Arcas, don't be difficult. I know it's a bit overwhelming, but you need to be seen at the daily meals."

"I don't see why. I don't eat. The stares make me uncomfortable and I don't like little wizards."

"Little wizards?"

"Your young. No wonder Voldemort wants to eat them all." Arcas muttered, sulking and frowning at the floor.

"Er... I don't think he wants to eat them." Remus said, lips twitching.

"Well whatever. I don't like them. They're loud, they're always around and they talk about doing weird things to me. They're not my mate! Why should I even give them a second thought?"

"Arcas, are you feeling all right? Seriously? What's bugging you?"

"Bugging me?"

"Yeah, er... upsetting you?"

"Oh. I just, I don't know. I'm fed up of being here, where I don't belong. I'm always hungry, but I can never take too much fire, I miss my family, I feel closed in. I don't understand this world. I feel ancient compared to the children occupying this world! I want my mum." Arcas finished, hugging his knees to his chest.

Remus sighed and walked over to sit on the floor next to the distraught Star. "Is there anyway of making you feel a bit more comfortable?"

"No. Everything here is different. It's like everyone knows this code and no one has told me. I can understand and speak twenty-two different languages, and yet I have no idea what anyone around here is talking about. What do they mean when they say that they want to show me the bends and curves of life?" Arcas asked, dragging his hands through his hair.

Remus coughed to cover a laugh and slung his arm around his Arcas' shoulders. "It's quite simple once you know the slang. I don't think it helps that you are so innocent. I do have one query though."

"What?" Arcas asked, sniffing quietly.

"What if your mate doesn't want to leave here? What if he wants to join the war effort, or is in fact a major part of it? What will you do then? Stay miserable for the rest of you life here?"

"No. I'd go back alone."

"What? Don't you need your mate to survive?"

"Not really. I need them to advance along. To- to mature! But, once we have um... mated, whatever that might entail, well I can leave. It won't hinder my mates health at all." Arcas said with a shrug.

"What about yours? Will you be fine? Happy?"

"I won't be happy. This is someone that will complete me. The Fates chose this person for me. But I will live and eventually, I will come down to collect him, or release him. He can't survive forever on his own on this planet. He will most probably outlive it. Can't be too sure though. Look Remus. I'm just not feeling very happy at the moment. Everything is over whelming me, and Dumbledore has achieved what he wanted and hindered my progress of finding my mate."

"Oh Arcas. Don't worry. You'll find him, and I'm sure that he will be very happy to be your mate."

"What if he isn't though? What if you're right, and I do have to leave without him?"

"What do you mean, 'what if I'm right'? When did I say that? I just hypothesized. I didn't say it would actually happen. Come on Arcas. Come to dinner, and ignore everyone who asks you out. Technically it would be frowned upon and against school rules for a professor to date a student anyway." Remus stated, standing up and wincing as his knees clicked.

--

Almost a week later, and a Hogsmeade visit had been planned in order to let the students get their costumes for the Hallowe'en ball. Which of course meant more invitation from students asking Arcas to accompany them into the village. Of course, Arcas declined as politely as he could and spent the morning of that Saturday sitting in his office attached to his classroom. Hoping that no one would think to come to his office to ask him out. He was proven wrong by a knock on the door.

Arcas sighed and walked over to answer it, staring for a couple of minutes in shock when he saw Ron standing there. He quickly shook his head and moved out of the way, waving Ron in and walking over to his desk to sit behind it.

"What can I do for you Mr Weasley?" Arcas asked, smiling politely at the student in front of him.

"I want to know what you are!" Ron stated, scowling at the now shocked Arcas.

"Pardon? What do you mean? I'm a teacher. Well Professor. Well, actually, do they even have a different meaning? I mean, sure, they do in the normal world, but do they in this one?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. So, sorry Mr Weasley, but what did you mean? Oh, please take a seat." Arcas added, pointing to the seat Ron was standing next to.

"I want to know what you are! Why are you here and what have you done to my sister?" Ron said, almost yelling, but yet not quite, much to Arcas' relief.

"Erm, I'm not actually sure what you want me to tell you. As for your sister, I assume you mean Miss Weasley. I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean there. I haven't done anything to Miss Weasley."

"Stop lying! I know you don't belong here! I know you're a freak! And I know you've done something to Ginny!" Ron yelled, making Arcas flinch away from him and look at his desk.

"I honestly don't know what you mean. I'm just a boring teacher."

"Liar! What have you done to Ginny!"

"Seriously, I've done nothing to her! I have no idea what you mean. I haven't done anything to your sister." Arcas said. He was actually beginning to get a little angry now.

"You've given her a love potion or something!"

"I have not. I don't even like her like that. She doesn't even listen in my classes, and to be honest, she's failing miserably. Now, if you've quite finished screaming at me, I do believe you should be going to Hogsmeade." Arcas said, standing up and walking to the door. He opened it and looked pointedly at Ron.

Ron quickly stood up and made his way to the door, stopping when Arcas placed a hand on his arm. "And I just thought I would warn you to keep an eye open for a owl telling you when your detention will be. Nice seeing you Mr Weasley." Arcas nudged Ron out of the door and closed it behind him.

--

Arcas sighed as Sirius walked into his office not long after Ron had left. He walked in and took the seat on the opposite side of the desk.

"What's up Sirius?" Arcas asked with a sigh, massaging his temples and understanding what people meant when they said they had a migraine coming.

"I was speaking to Remus a few days ago and we discussed you. He told me that you're not happy down here."

"Did he? How nice for him."

"He told me that you said something peculiar. You said that everyone on this planet were children. Thing is though, to us, you're only seventeen yourself."

"No, I'm not Sirius. I've told you, I'm not that little boy anymore."

"What happened though? How do you age three thousand years in only seventeen?"

"You become a Star. Every single one of them were once human-ish. Well anthropomorphic anyway."

"So you get, what, taken away?"

"No. I made a wish. I wished I was anywhere but where I was. They came and took me away. Well sort of. Go back three thousand odd years and you have the Greeks. Er... Well you do in Greece anyway. That's where I ended up. That's why I'm over three thousand years old. I was adopted. By Callista."

"How does that make you a Star?"

"Callista had an affair with Zeus when I was nineteen. She got killed for it and Zeus sent her to the Stars, made her Ursa Major. I was her most beloved. She loved me above all else. He made me Ursa Minor to keep her company."

"How does that explain the others? You said they were all Human."

"No. I said Anthropomorphic, but close enough. It happens in the same way. If they were human, they crossed a god, or enamoured one. Elves did the same with their god. Same with any other creature." Arcas said with a shrug.

"I don't believe you."

"Well that's what it says in history. Go look it up. Catch up on your Greek Mythology. Read about your godson." Arcas said, standing up and then walking out of his office, leaving a stunned Sirius behind.

--

Callista made her way to the spare room in her small apartment when she heard her guest arrive in there. She smiled to herself and hummed softly as she opened the door, and walked in.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Callista. Also known as the constellation Ursa Major. I have brought you here to ask for your assistance in this war." Callista said, smiling and walking further into the room.

The man in front of her turned and smiled at her in return, before sitting down on the bed in the room.

"I should have recognised you. How long has it been Calli?" The man asked, brushing his pure white hair out of his face.

"It's been a while Betelgeuse." Callista said, smiling widely before moving forward and enveloping the other man in a hug.

"I go by Orion at the moment, it seems more common in the wizarding world right now. Seems us Stars are popular to be named for. So what are you doing here? I didn't figure you would be joining this petty little war. You know it won't figure in any of the major history books in a couple of decades time. Won't even touch the normal world."

"Yes, and normally I wouldn't bother with it, but the leader of one of the sides has decided to take it upon himself to try and hide away my sons mate."

"Arcy? Arcy's all grown up? Gods, I haven't seen him since he was barely three hundred. How old is he now?"

"He's three thousand five hundred and three, just gone."

"And he's got a mate? What's this about the leader? Which one?"

"Dumbledore."

"Then we'll have to help Little Arcas then, won't we?" Orion said, grinning mischievously, receiving the same grin in return from Callista.

**So how's about that. A whole chapter for you. And I'm still cruel enough not to tell you who has Charlie. How mean am I? Still, things are hotting up a little and the Stars, well Callista, are joining to war. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! And for those that asked, there's a nice little flashback sort of for you!!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Charlie shivered as he stared into the pale grey, almost white, eyes of the person who had taken him. He was still trying to get his head around the information he had been told not a few minutes before.

"So you're a Star?" Charlie asked, taking in the pure white hair and pale skin of his captor.

"Yep."

"And I'm the mate of a Star?"

"Yep."

"And Dumbledore tried to kidnap me to keep me away from said Star who is my mate?"

"Yep."

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"Yep."

Charlie glared at the infuriating Star in front of him. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"What do you want to do? I can let you go, hide from Dumbledore, Voldemort and everyone else. I can take you to Arcas (that's your mate by the way), or I can take you to his mother, so you can join the war with us. _Or_ you could really throw us for a loop and go to Dumbledore or even Voldemort and join the war on their side."

"So you're not going to force me to mate with er... Arcas?"

"Yeah, Arcas. And no, no one will force you into doing anything. I would ask that you meet with him, give him a chance though. He's a nice kid. Known him since he was a little twinkle."

"And he's searching for me? I don't get it. How do I meet him even if I wanted to? You said he was at Hogwarts."

"He is."

"Then how do we get past Dumbledore? If he wanted me to stay away from Arcas then he's not going to be very happy if I just turn up at Hogwarts."

"Nope. Which means you're going to have to meet with my little Arcy underneath Dumbledore's nose. He can't know about it until you have both reached a decision with regards to your mating."

"Do you have a mate?" Charlie asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes I do. She's lovely. An elf, or was an elf. Once she mated with me, she chose to become a Star. She's the secondary star in my constellation now."

"Will that happen to me?"

"If you want it to happen. You can just stay with Arcas or you could even stay on this planet until its end. You won't need Arcas to live even if you do mate with him."

"So I can just carry on with my life?"

"Yeah, sure"

"So then Regulus, what do we do to meet my possible future mate then?"

--

_Harry stared at the woman in front of him. She was beautiful and pretty and all other words that described her looks. He was six years old, his vocabulary wasn't all that up to scratch. Still, the woman with her long black hair and dark brown, almost black eyes, was staring down at him and _smiling_! People didn't normally smile at him. He looked at her dress and frowned, he had never seen his aunt Petunia wearing anything like her. It was long, floor length and, if Harry was honest with himself, then he would say it looked like a sheet held together with those pretty rope things that held back the curtains. He liked to run the tassles through his fingers whenever the Dursley's weren't around. Still, this lady seemed to carry it off and make it look majestic on her. It suited her. _

"_Hi." Harry said shyly looking up at the woman through his lashes. He had no idea where he was but it was warm and there were no Dursley's. Things had to be getting better. They had to be. _

"_Hello little one. Who might you be? And how did you appear in my home?" The woman asked, kneeling down to be eye level with him._

"_H-Harry." Harry told her quietly, before looking around the room he was in. It was sparse with white stone washed walls and two wicker chairs facing each other at an angle. _

"_Well hello Harry. Can you tell me where you were before you came to me?" Harry glanced at the woman and shrugged. He had no idea where he was or how he came to be there, but if he told her where he used to be, then surely she would send him back. "Can you tell me what you were doing before you came here?"_

"_In the garden." Harry said looking back down at his tatty trainers. _

"_Ah, and where was this garden?"_

"_Surrey."_

"_Where is that?"_

"_England."_

"_And that is?"_

"_It's England. Erm... In England." Harry said with a shrug. How as he to know where England was, and who was this woman not to _know_?_

"_Ah, maybe my idea of the world is not as good as it should be, hmm?" The woman asked smiling gently at Harry, who blushed and smiled back. "Can you tell me where you think you are?"_

"_England?" Harry asked, even though he knew that clearly wasn't the place he was, as this woman hadn't even heard of England._

"_Ah, then I am afraid to tell you that this is not the case. You are here in Olympia. Home of the Gods. I am Callista. And as I told you before, you are in my home. Would you like something to eat?"_

_Harry gaped at the woman, Callista, in front of him. She was offering him food. Without any visible strings attached. Harry narrowed his eyes and warily nodded slowly._

"_Um... Please. I can water your plants if you would like in um... return?" Harry said meekly, refusing to look up from his shoes, even when Callista tried to catch his eye._

"_Ah, little one, you do not need to pay me for food. Everyone is entitled to food, even the slaves. It is a terrible crime to withhold food from another being."_

"_So I can have food?"_

"_Of course. I have some fresh olives that I collected earlier this morning. Would you like some?"_

"_I've never had them before?"_

"_Ah, well you never know if you will like something until you try it. Come little one, lets get some food in you, you look like you may need it." _

"_T-thank you ma'am." Harry said shyly, following the woman into another adjoining room. He glanced around it cautiously, noting that there were no appliances that were in the Dursley's kitchen. _

"_No need to call me ma'am. Call me Callista. Once you have eaten, I can then take you to the temple of Zeus, to ask what I must do."_

"_Do?"_

"_Yes, whether you will have to go back, or if you are in fact a gift of the gods to me." _

"_A-a gift? People don't normally give people as gifts. Do they?" Harry asked, he felt sure he would have known if they did. Dudley would have wanted one straight away._

"_No silly. But you appeared in my room from nothing. I wish to know how, perhaps the Gods decided to send you to me."_

"_And if they did?"_

"_Then I shall raise you as my own."_

"_Really? You'll be my... my um..." Hary didn't quite dare to say what he wanted her to be, but didn't want to say aunt or something like that as he didn't have a good experience with the last one._

"_Mother." Callista told him firmly, before kneeling once more and wiping away the tear that fell down Harry's cheek as he smiled brightly at her. Perhaps things really were looking up for him._

"_Can I have a new name? I heard people sometimes change their children's names. I would like a new name if I can."_

"_Of course. How does Arcas sound?" Harry beamed at her and nodded quickly, before being lifted onto the table in the room and cautiously eating the olive that was handed to him._

Arcas sat up in bed and frowned. He didn't normally dream of when he left that family. It was sp long ago, to be honest he had forgotten about them, happy to believe that Callista was his birth mother. Of course he knew she wasn't, but most of the time he forgot. Since talking with Remus however, his memories of his childhood had started to haunt him in his dreams.

He could remember going to the Temple of Zeus for the first time. Feeling in awe of the great god. He could even remember when his mother was punished for sleeping with said god and sent to the Stars before she was meant to. He remembered being human. Which was an altogether unsettling feeling. Having been _not_ human for so long. Since his seventeenth birthday. Well a little before said birthday actually. A little over ten years after being sent to Callista, and he was sent to become what was destined. Nearly three and a half thousand years _before_ he was supposed to.

His time line was completely screwed up. Harry groaned and fell back to his bed. And his Mate was still, for all intents and purposes, eight years older than him. Well according to the records in the department of births and deaths. Of course he was also listed as dead in there as well, so he felt it best to ignore those, just in case it completed made his brain melt down. He wanted so desperately to meet his mate, so he could start aging again. True only for another eight years, but being stuck in a sixteen year old body for three thousand odd years can become tedious. At least his mother had lived her life for long enough to be considered an adult before becoming immortal. He just thanked the Gods that Stars didn't have to deal with _hormones_. He shuddered at the thought of three thousand years of _that_! Regulus mocked him enough as it is. He wished he had Altair with him. He could talk to him. Maybe even find out, once and for all what was involved in mating! Why wouldn't anyone tell him? It was actually beginning to make him nervous that on one would.

Harry groaned again and finally sat up in his bed. He was never going to get back to sleep. Plus he really needed to find some more fire-liquid. He was getting really hungry. And cranky. Hungry and cranky.

--

Dumbledore coughed to get the attention of those in front of him. The numbers of this elite group had started to grow somewhat since finding out who Harry's mate was. The people in the room settled down a little and looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

He looked around at those gathered there, noting slightly that there were two new students, unsurprisingly, both were Gryffindors. Seamus Finnigan and a sixth year, Louis Gale. He shouldn't have been surprised really. He was surprised over the fact that Percy Weasley was still there with them. Also of the fact that he had invited the Minister to join this meeting was surprising. That Rufus agreed shocked many more than just himself.

"Some grave news has come to my attention. One Charles Weasley has been taken from where he was living in Romania." Dumbledore said, looking at those in front of him solemnly. Molly gave a small strangled gasp and gripped her husbands arms tightly.

"Professor, does You Know Who have him?" Arthur asked fearfully, wincing slightly at his wife's tightening grip.

"I have heard from a reliable source that Voldemort does not have Charles." Dumbledore told them all, ignoring the expected flinch at the Dark Lords name. "This means that we will have to up searches for the young man, and make sure that he does not find his way here."

"Why?" Rufus asked curiously, Dumbledore set his twinkly eyes on the the Minister and smiled softly.

"Alas, we cannot allow our young Star, Mr Potter, to meet his mate if we want him to win this war for us."

"You have Mr Potter? The rumours are true then? Why was I not told of this?"

"You were not told because we were unsure of spies and did not want for Voldemort to hear about it. Plus we did not want the media to get wind of it. However, now that we are sure no one will be able to get wind of it, we will need your help in securing young Harry to our side."

"Surely if you keep his mate from him, then it will make him adverse to helping you."

"That maybe so, but he has not found out that it is my doing that is keeping his mate away."

"You are a fool Dumbledore. The Stars look down on us and hear everything we say. To think that Harry will not find out about this is very naïve. However, I can understand why you would want to keep his mate away from him and so I will help you in this. I will want some publicity on this though. When the war is over, I want everyone to know that I helped this war end."

"That will be fine Rufus. Now, would you like me o introduce you to Harry and you can try to distract him from whatever ails him. He was somewhat grumpy this morning at breakfast. He even snapped at Sirius."

--

Voldemort sat in his throne, which was the third one he had had to get seeing as the previous ones kept falling apart. Much to Wormtail's distress. It probably had something to do with the fact that, no matter how carefully he made the throne, there was always one screw left over. Perhaps he should punish Wormtail more. Or use magic to build the damned thing next time. Sticking charms maybe.

Voldemort was pulled out of his musing over his thrones when the doors opened and a Death Eater walked in. He assumed it was his spy, as he didn't have many Death Eaters of his height, but one could never be too sure. Contrary to the rumours going round, the dark marks didn't tell him who each Death Eater was. He was just a damned good guesser. Or addressed them all the same way.

"Why are you here?" Voldemort asked once the minion had stopped kissing his robes. Really, he had no idea who had started that habit. He surely hadn't, very unhygienic.

"My Lord, I have just come from a meeting with the old fool. I have word that he has discovered Charlie is missing."

"So the Star's mate is missing? Does he know where he is?"

"No my lord. That is not everything."

"Well?"

"The minister has joined Dumbledore in this war against you My Lord. He wishes to take some of the credit should their side win. However, they are beginning to worry about the Star and his mate. Security has been upped at the school in order to keep the mate away. The effort against you, My Lord, has been lessened in light of this."

"Really? Then perhaps we should begin to step up this war somewhat. Make the weak wizards sit up and realise I am going to win."

--

Arcas sighed and leant on his elbow, glaring at his plate, so that he didn't glare at Dumbledore for his bloody stupid ideas. He had watched down on these Humans, watching them celebrate their strange rituals. Watching as he and his mother and family were forgotten and only viewed as lights in the sky. Watching the religion come and then die out with the passing of age.

Yet as he watched all of this. Halloween thrived. Sure, the meaning of the holiday changed with every prominent religion until it is now only something to celebrate so that they can get dressed up, however, it was still around and Arcas hated it. He couldn't see the joy in dressing up as a demon or angel or something that only exists in nightmares or those strange paper book things that children read. People forgot about the stars though.

"Arcas? Why are you glaring at the cabbage?" Remus asked nervously, well aware that the Star was not feeling particularly nice today.

"It doesn't taste nice. It's cold and it makes me feel funny. I don't like it." Arcas told him, upping the glare somewhat when the students began to whisper to their neighbours on what they would wear to the ball.

"Bloody stupid idea." Sirius grumbled from his other side.

"I couldn't agree more. Stupid holiday. Can I not just hide somewhere?" Arcas asked with a slight whine to his voice, making Remus try to suppress a smirk.

"No. If I have to go to this damned thing, so do you."

"The rabid children won't accost you! They all think you and Remus are together and erm... Shagging?" Arcas asked innocently, tilting his head in confusion at the word and looking at Remus in concern when he spat his coffee across the table. What's shagging?"

"Erm... It's something you should ask Remus about." Sirius said hurriedly, before grabbing a piece of toast and hurrying out of the hall. Filius chuckled as they watched the man practically run out of the hall.

"Ah, um... Well... See... It's when erm..." Remus floundered as Arcas gazed at him with his unnervingly large eyes.

"It's slang for mating, young Arcas." Filius told him with a smile as Arcas whipped round to see him.

"Oh, and what is that? When are you going to explain what that is? Does that mean you and Sirius are mates?" Arcas asked, innocently excited.

Remus flushed as all the teachers within hearing range turned their attention to the two near the end of the table.

"Yes, Remus. Please do let the rumours to rest. Are you and Professor Black... _mates_?" McGonagall asked, smirking when Remus groaned and glared at Arcas.

"Fine. No we are not mates. Im sorry to disappoint. Yes we have... Ermm.... Oh forget it. Werewolves don't have mates, contrary to popular belief."

"He's right you know. Though Were Leopards do for some unknown reason. It is very strange. I never understood it, even though Arneb tried to explain it to me." Arcas said musingly.

"Exactly, now then, shall we go? Classes are about to begin." Remus said with a strained smile, standing up and walking out of the hall.

"Hmm. I think he wants to mate with Sirius."

"Really? Maybe we should set them up then at the ball and they can mate!" Arcas said with a bright smile.

"Indeed we could. Shall we meet, the four of us, tomorrow after dinner? We can discuss this then?" Pomona Sprout said with a smile. The others nodded as they stood up and left the room together.

Arcas smiled at something Pomona said, looking down as he felt a hand on his arm and looked behind him to see a coyly smiling Ginny.

"Miss Weasley? How may I help you?" Arcas asked with a somewhat false smile. The other three teachers grinned lightly and walked away to their separate classrooms.

"Professor Orsini. I was wondering if I could talk to you after classes about the essay you set. I have a couple of questions to ask about the Elves and Vampires."

"Of course you can Miss Weasley. Come to my office after your last class and I shall answer all the questions you may have." Arcas said with a small smile at her. He walked away from her, not noticing the smug grin on Ginny's face and looks of sheer murder on many of the females that had over heard.

--

Arcas watched the owl fly in the open window of his office with a frown. His free period was nearly ending and was expecting Ginny Weasley to his office soon. Standing up, he walked over to the white, regal looking owl and took the letter clasped in his claws.

"What's this? Would you like some water?" Arcas asked, conjuring a small dish and filling it with water form the jug on his desk and offering it to the owl. He then looked down at the letter in his hands and opened it, not recognising the handwriting.

His eyes raised as soon as he read the first words of the letter and sat down on his chair to read it.

_My Dearest Son,_

_I have felt a need to send you this letter to inform you that I am here, on this planet they call Earth. I heard your need for your family, we are joining this war. Slowly, the night sky will be darkening. Be on you guard son, for you are in the midst of a betrayal. _

_It has come to our attention that the esteemed Headmaster has been trying to hide your mate from you. Fear not, he is quite safe and is currently staying with Leo. We will be bringing him to you soon. You will soon have you mate my son. His name, if you have not been told, is Charlie._

_Love You_

_Callista_

Arcas read the letter and leant back in his chair, clutching the letter tightly. He was too concerned with the letter to even hear the gentle knock on his door.

"Charlie."

--

Callista looked around the front room of her small apartment at the people gathered there. She didn't actually need any lights on from the inner light of all the other stars in the room.

"Okay people. Here's the deal. I want some suggestions on how we should enter this war!"

"Um... We need to have more beings on our side. We only have the Goblins support so far. These wizards need to be put in their place. They have become complacent and biased in their views of the world. They need to have a Were come and save their child from death. They need to see reason." One woman said, making the others grumble in agreement.

"Indeed Andy. I have sent missives to those that are scorned. I have yet to hear from most, though the Vampires sent back a missive saying they are with us. They remember what we did to help in their war. They will be sending someone to see us soon."

"So we really are joining another war?" A small Star asked, he had white feathers hanging in his dark red hair, seeming to melt into the white roots.

"We considered ignoring it and letting them deal with it themselves, however Dumbledore swayed our side when he tried to keep Arcy's mate away from him."

"I want to be there for him. He needs us. Please let me go to him." The Star with the white feathers said, getting nods of agreement from two other small Stars.

"Indeed Deneb. I shall have to consider it, your other form will work for us in this case. Discuss it with the other two and decide what you course of action will be."

"What happened to Arcy's mate?"

"He is currently with Regulus. We are working out a plan to get him into Hogwarts without Dumbledore knowing. Any and all ideas are welcome. At the moment however, we are just at the brain-waving stage. So, what shall we do and how do we get it across that there is now a third faction in this silly little war?"

**A/N – So, another chapter, and more Stars are a coming! Yay! Plus, a little flashback moment for you all there. I may try to incorporate more into it, if I can find the room and appropriate place. So tell me what you think? Please do review!!! Thank you! And I'm sorry for the amount of time it took for this update. I have no idea when the next one will be, but I ma honestly trying. Things are just a little difficult right now. **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

All over the world, news was reaching those long forgotten creatures, only remembered as part of myth. Some not even remembered at all. Excited whispers could be heard through each of these groups.

Whispers about _them_.

The Stars.

Coming to give them back their place in the world.

That they would once more be able to be _known _once more.

--

A large eagle flew into the window of Callista's flat, making everyone in the room, jump, then snigger. The eagle quickly lost any dignity it may have ever had and hopped through the now open window and stuck it's leg out, ignoring the now hysterical Stars.

"Who's it from Callista?" Sirius asked, still chuckling sporadically as he made his way over to the unofficial head Star.

"It would seem we have a new ally in this silly little war. Our return to this world was not so secret after all."

"Why? Who sent it? Are they fun? Oh god, it's not the elves is it?" Sirius asked, looking at the letter in Callista's hand suspiciously.

"It is indeed from the elves."

"Damn. They're boring! Don't know how to take a joke!"

"Funnily enough, one of their requirements was to not have to deal with you. Apparently, the last time we met with the elves, you sent half of them into hysterics by shaving their heads in the night." Callista said calmly, reading the letter in her hands.

"Oh well. That's fine by me. I can't stand the flouncey, stuck up, pointy-eared freaks."

"I'm sure Regulus' mate will be delighted to hear about what you have to say about her kin."

"That's low Callie. Really low. Below to belt even. She'd rip me a new one!"

"Yep, so you had better keep your thoughts about the elves to yourself and stay away from them, hadn't you?"

"Yeah yeah. Can I go see Arcy? I want to meet the little human with my name! I haven't spoken to a Black in years! They actually _do_ have a sense of humour! Amazing!"

"No. You've got to make plans with Deneb first. We have to wait for word from Regulus as well, before we can do anything else."

"I'm bored though!"

"I don't care. Go talk to Deneb!" Callista told him sharply, she watched Sirius huff and then walk off in the direction of where she last saw one of the younger Stars and then turned her attention back to the missive in her hands. She would have to reply and tell them of her agreement to their stipulations. Plus it would get Sirius out of her hair for a few weeks. How Dorea put up with him constantly, she didn't know. She wanted to kill him, and she had only been living with him for a month.

Sighing, she pulled a fresh sheet of parchment from the desk and started to pen her reply to the elves. Sirius was right in one respect. They had no sense of humour.

--

_Arcas looked around him at the almost excited looks the audience were wearing. He couldn't help but think he should never have even bothered waking up. _

_A tall, bronze skinned man sneered at him and lifted up the large torch in his hand. Arcas gulped slightly and wondered if the man was going to do what he thought he was going to do with that torch._

"_So, the Mighty Zeus! Show us your power! Save this mortal!!" The man, Arcas was pretty sure his name was Lycaon, but he wouldn't bet on it. _

"_Erm.. You do realise right that I'm not really his son. It was all a ruse." Arcas whispered, watching the torch wearily. Lycaon either ignored him or didn't hear as the next moment, the stone surface Arcas was tied to, was set on fire. "Please don't kill me! Zeus doesn't care about me!"_

--

"Are you sure this is going to work?" A tall, dark haired woman asked sceptically, looking at her white haired companion.

"Of course it will work. My plans _always_ work."

"Yes. Right. Aefen told me otherwise. This robe is itchy."

"Well I have a wedgy but you don't hear me complaining." The white hair female said, tugging on her robes.

"I think this is a ridiculous idea. No way is this going to work." The dark haired woman said with a sigh.

"Oh be quite Charlotte."

"That's another thing! Why Charlotte?"

"It's the nearest to your actual name. Now shush we're there." The woman said, before walking up the large castle, "Now, remember the plan. We go in, I'm Callista, you're my mate. Charlotte. They don't need to know that that's not actually Callista's mate's name, but he doesn't know that."

"I may have said this before, but this is not going to work." Charlotte muttered, shaking her head and then following the other woman 'Callista' into the castle.

"You know, security of this place is terrible."

"Not really, seeing that, as soon as we entered, Dumbledore and the heads of house knew about it."

"Indeed we did, er... I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I do not know your name or indeed, who you are."

"Ah, sorry, I'm Callista, and this is my mate, Charlotte." 'Callista' said, grabbing 'Charlotte's' arm and tugging her closer to her.

"Ah, am I to assume you are here to visit your son?" Dumbledore said with a twinkle.

"Yes. Could you please tell me where he is?"

"Ah, he should be in his rooms. I'll take you there if you would like."

"That would be very nice, thank you. Last I heard from Arcas, you had offered him a job here and help to find his mate. How is that going for you?"

"Ah, I do believe that young Arcas has not yet found his mate. Such a shame." Dumbledore told them. 'Callista' elbowed 'Charlotte' when the latter growled softly.

"Indeed it is."

--

Arcas sighed yet again in boredom. He hated Fridays, he had almost nothing to do on Fridays. He only taught one class, first years at the end of the day. So far, he had read four books and rearranged the furniture in the rooms he shared with Remus. He still had two hours to go.

He was just considering going to the kitchens to bother the House Elves, when something made him sit up straight. He had no idea what it was, but his muscles felt strained, as though tensing to jump. Something was outside of his rooms that was making him feel this way, and it was getting closer.

Just when he thought he would explode, there was a knock on the door and Arcas jumped about a foot in the air. Blushing brightly when he realised what he had done, Arcas pulled himself together and walked to the portrait entrance to let who ever it was, in.

"Headmaster! How may I help you?" Arcas asked, smiling widely at the strange old human.

"Ah, Your mother and her mate have come to visit. I thought I would take them to you personally." Dumbledore said, moving aside to let Arcas see the two women behind him.

"Oh, of course. Mother! What are you doing here? Come in! Would you like to join us Dumbledore?" Arcas asked politely, moving aside to let the two strange women into his rooms.

"No no. I have some things I need to do. I'll leave you to catch up. I'll see you later at dinner. Please try to make it to your class on time."

Arcas nodded and smiled, watching to headmaster walk away until he was out of sight, then closed the door and turned around to face his visitors with a frown on his face.

"Alright, Reg, does my mum know you are impersonating her?" Arcas asked with a frown.

"Ah, well, um... Do you not want to know who is with me?"

"Of course I do! They're putting my teeth on edge! I also want to know what Aefen thinks of this?" Arcas asked, hands on his hips and making Charlie think of his mother.

"Ah well, no Aefen doesn't know about this, but Arcas!"

"No buts! You wait until I tell Aefen about your new drag queen look! In fact, I bet Deneb and Vega would love to hear this. So who is you've managed to con into this?" Arcas asked, an amused smirk on his face.

"Ah, well Arcas, please say hello to Charlie. Your mate." Regulus said, bowing to Charlie dramatically.

"My mate? Did you just say my mate?" Arcas asked faintly, not taking his eyes off the now male Charlie.

"Yup. So, I'll leave you two kids to catch up, I'm going to kip in one of the beds. I haven't slept for nearly a week now. Catch you later! Be good Charlotte!" Regulus said with a quirky smile, before leaving the room and Arcas and Charlie to stare at each other in uncomfortable silence.

"So..."

"Yep..."

"You teach here?"

"Yeah. War History." Arcas said, sitting down on a chair and signalling for Charlie to do the same. "He does know that my mother's mate is Alethea right?"

"I think so. He mentioned that it wasn't really her name. So... I assume you've met my youngest siblings." Charlie asked as he sat down on the chair next to Arcas.

"Ah, yes I've met them both. Unfortunately I've had a disagreement with both of them. Though for completely different reasons."

"Oh dear. What did they do?" Charlie asked, jumping when a House Elf arrived next to him.

"Mr Master Star Sir! Yous be eating soon? Yous be missing lunchtime. Will you and Mr Master Star Sir's mate be wanting food?" The elf asked, looking between the two mates anxiously wringing its hands.

"Ooh!! Elf Three! You forgot the Sparkly in my title! But don't worry about it. I don't want anything to eat though, I'm not sure about Charlie however. Can you bring me a mug of boiling water please?" Arcas asked with a bright smile.

"Oh yes!! And Mr Master Sparkly Star Sir's Mate? Would you like anything?"

"Um... Can I have a glass of pumpkin juice please?" Charlie asked, blinking when the House Elf bowed lowly and then popped out the room. "Can I just ask?"

"Mmm? What is wrong?"

"What's with the Mr Master Star Sir?"

"You missed the Sparkly as well." Arcas said with a grin, "And I got bored one day and decided to annoy the House Elves. We don't have them back at home, but I remember when they were more than submissive little slaves for wizards. You do realise that the weakest of House Elves probably has more magic in it's little tow, than the most powerful wizard? I tried to annoy them into showing the fire I so admired in their ancestors! So I keep adding a name into the title they give me."

"That's sort of mean, don't you think?" Charlie asked, lips twitching with a smile.

"Maybe." Arcas said, smiling mischievously.

"So, what happens now?" Charlie asked eventually, taking his pumpkin juice from 'Elf Three' with a smile and thank you.

"Well... You have a couple of choices. First, you can stay here and be my envoy to this... Place. Second, you can become a Star and get your own... Place. Third you can come live with me at my own... Place and finally, you can reject the bond and leave both of us to die horrific and slow deaths." Arcas said in a creepily cheerful voice.

"Er... Well the last one is out. What happens with the first? And how exactly do we cover the bond? I mean, how do we fulfil the bond?" Charlie asked, seemingly searching the air for the correct words.

"Ah, well see, no one will explain that to me."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, now looking at his somewhat tiny future mate suspiciously.

"Well I know that the two mates have to um... well actually, this is where I get lost. It was once described to me as lying together, but well... That sounds neither productive nor fun. So maybe I misinterpreted it."

"Ah." Charlie's face flamed bright red as he realised just how naïve his mate was. "Well, maybe we should cover that at a later date and in the mean time, we could discuss what we want from this."

"Okay. What do you want?"

"I don't want to leave my dragons, but I also want to be able to look out for you."

"How do you know you will like me?"

"I don't. Maybe we should spend a bit of time together after the bonding, to see if we do get on, then we can decide what to do on a more permanent basis."

"That sounds like a good idea." Arcas agreed with a nod, he then smiled widely and hopped out of his chair. "I have first years to teach soon! Want to come? Charlotte?"

--

It was later in the day, during dinner that a large eagle owl swept in through the high windows of the Great Hall and landed in front of one Ronald Weasley.

"Who is it from?" Seamus asked from beside him. Ron shrugged and tugged the letter from the angry looking birds foot.

"No idea. Oh." Ron said, reading the letter and then looking up at the staff table, seeing Professor Orsini sitting next an attractive, though somewhat masculine looking woman with dark red hair.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, looking at where Ron was looking. "Does that woman look familiar to you?"

"No. I have a detention though. For the time I disagreed with Orsini."

"Well that's not fair. Surely you can talk to Dumbledore about it! With what he did to Ginny, I'm sure Dumbledore will understand." Hermione said, looking at the bandages and burn cream on Ginny's arms and face.

"What did he do to you Gin? You never did tell us everything. Surely he's not allowed to burn his students! Did you speak to Dumbledore?" Ron asked, trying to be the concerned older brother.

"Oh, well I touched him and he burnt me. When I went to Madam Pomphrey, she told me it was my own fault! I don't understand why it was my fault! So who do you have detention with?" Ginny asked, face red as she avoided any other questions regarding her burns.

"It says here that I have to report to Professor Lupin for detention with him and Professor Black." Ron said, wrinkling his face up in disgust.

"I wonder why them and not Professor Orsini himself." Hermione said, spearing a potato thoughtfully, which amazed Ron somewhat, as he didn't know it was possible to spear _anything_ thoughtfully.

"Hmph, I'm going to see if Dumbledore can get me out of this."

"I don't think that will be a good idea." Hermione said, "What did you even do to him? I hear that he doesn't very often give out detentions. You must have upset him quite a bit."

"Yeah Ron, and he gave you detention with Black and Lupin. Only thing worse than that is Filch or Snape!"

--

Arcas and Charlie made their way back to Arcas and Remus' rooms after dinner, in which many members of the student population stared at them, and Charlie invented a whole new shade of red to match his dark hair. Arcas actually thought it was quite becoming.

"So then, I was wondering, and of course, I spoke to Remus, and he said that you would be able to explain mating to me. Will you?" Arcas asked, as they walked through the portrait into his rooms.

"Erm... well, perhaps I could explain it, but um..."

"Are you alright?" Arcas asked, moving to sit next to his mate.

"Well... It's just a little uncomfortable. What do you know about mating?"

"Erm... Nothing?" Arcas said, blushing lightly and refusing to look at a horrified Charlie.

"Where are Remus and Sirius?"

"They have detention with your brother. As for Regulus, he'll be out of it for a day or so."

"Okay, well in that case, sometimes, it's better to learn by doing, but in this situation, I'm not sure that rule applies quite so well." Charlie said, rubbing the back of his next uncomfortably.

"Oh. So what does it involve?"

"Well normally, erm... two men decide they would like to spend some time together, occasionally it's a lifetime. Well anyway, sometimes they um... decide to er... consummate their relationship by erm... having sexual intercourse." Charlie explained, groaning when it appeared that Arcas had no idea where this was going.

"Sexual intercourse? I think I might remember soldiers from old wars and battles discussing this. Never saw it happen though."

"Well no, it's rather a private affair. It's very enjoyable, if you do it right and with someone you trust."

"Right, so we will be having this erm... Sexual Intercourse?" Arcas asked with a shy smile.

"Well, I... erm... I suppose yes, we will. However, first we should get to know each other. For example, I'm Charlie Weasley; I work with dragons, because I love dragons. They are pretty much my life."

"There were some beautiful dragons before the Great War. A lovely ruby red one that somehow managed to breath black flames that were quite hard to put out. They got killed off, except for Tertius. Unfortunately he was Draconian, and thus had only half the blood of the Atlantian Black Ruby."

"How come they became extinct if they were as dangerous as you are making them out to be?" Charlie asked, on the edge of his seat to learn something about Dragons that he didn't know.

"Oh well, see, they may have had a fire that was nigh impossible to extinguish, but well, they were only three feet long once full-grown. They were the smallest of Dragons."

"Ah. What other Dragon races do you know about?" Charlie asked, He was beginning to sound like a small excitable child.

"Oh, well you can always come to my fourth year classes. They are learning about the Greta Dragon Races of the War."

"Ah, see, this is another thing we need to discuss. I've been away from my Dragons for far too long now. I need to know that they are all right and being looked after. So really, I can't stay here for too long.

--

The weekend had nearly finished, and students of Hogwarts school were finishing last minute essays in preparation for their classes the next morning. The castle was almost completely silent for once, which gave the castle a strange eerie feel to it.

Of course, nothing good lasts forever, so no one was really surprised when three men barged into the Great Hall, two of them hollering something about new pranks.

"Bill? What are you and the twins doing here?" Ginny asked, standing and running over to her oldest brother.

"Oh, we came to say hello to Sirius and Remus. Well technically, Fred and George came to speak to their investors, I just tagged along."

"Oh, well they are probably in their rooms seeing as it' not their day to watch over Study Hall."

"Right, any chance you know where that is?"

"Yeah, Try Sirius' rooms first, his are on the second floor. It's the only portrait there, so It should be too hard to find." Ginny told him, smiling at her brothers before moving back to the table and her homework.

"So then?"

"Shall we go"

"To Sirius' rooms?" Fred and George asked.

"Yep, maybe he will know where Charlie is." Bill muttered quietly, before leading the way out of the hall and making their way up the stairs to where they hoped Sirius' rooms were.

After only a few minutes, they finally found the one portrait that they assumed were Sirius' rooms.

Bill knocked and waited for the door to open, dodging out of the way of any pranks either of the twins tried to force down his throat.

"Hey! What are you three doing here?" Sirius asked once he opened the portrait, allowing the three brothers to walk into his rooms.

"We came to warn you about some plans of the Orders. There are separate order meetings which you and Remus are not a part of. For some reason though, we are. They are trying to keep Arcas away from his mate."

"What? Why?" Remus asked, coming into the main common area after hearing what Bill had to say.

"The only reason"

"That we were told,"

"Was for Arcas to focus"

"His energy on the war and

"Defeat VoldiePants for us!"

Sirius and Remus watched the twins in complete bemusement, before what they said sank in.

"What? Arcas doesn't want to join this war! Does Dumbledore know who his mate is?" Sirius asked urgently.

"Yeah, well, he _thinks_ it is our brother, Charlie." Bill said, nibbling on his lip.

"He would be correct in that assumption." Sirius muttered darkly.

"Would you like to meet Arcas?" Remus asked suddenly, making the three Weasley's jump.

"Erm... Yeah, it would probably be best if we told Arcas ourselves. Where is he?"

"He should be in the rooms he shares with me. Last time I spoke to him, he was marking essays. Shall we go up to him? It's only the next floor."

"Yeah! Come on then!"

--

Arcas was indeed in his rooms on the third floor, but he wasn't marking any essays, instead he was trying to convince a disgruntled owl to give him the letter tied around it's foot.

"Surely that is not comfortable for you, I could take it off and let you rest your foot a little? No?" Arcas jumped away from a particularly harsh peck in his direction and glared at the owl.

"Having troubles Arcas?" Charlie asked, lips twitching with a smile as he placed his hand on Arcas'.

"It won't give me the letter!" Arcas said, still glaring at the owl, which was now looking particularly smug. Charlie sighed, breath tickling Arcas' ear and making his shiver.

"You just have to treat them like the superiors they are." Charlie said, taking the letter from the owl easily and handing it over to Arcas.

"How did you do that? Bloody stupid bird. It's not my fault you flew into the window!" Arcas grumbled, before opening the letter and reading it.

_Arcas, _

_Included with this letter is a snippet from tomorrows _DailyProphet. _It is detailing a third faction in this war. I am writing to warn you, that soon, those who know you are not human at your school, will be able to to guess what race you are. _

_I hope that our decision to go public with our side will not put you at a disadvantage. Stay safe my son, and give my love to your gorgeous mate, Charlie. You will be seeing us very soon. Deneb, Vega and Altair are driving us all mad, wanting to see their '_Little Brother_'! _

_All my love,_

_Callista_

Arcas handed the letter to Charlie silently, and unfolded the small article form the next days newpaper.

_**Third side of the war?**_

_**by Elouise Folk**_

_This reporter was shocked, when sometime after lunch yesterday, a large white eagle flew through my window and left a letter on my desk, leaving without waiting for a reply. _

_Imagine my shock when, when I opened it and read the letter, it appeared to be from an entirely different side of the way that no one had ever even considered before. The side of the war, wrote that they were the side that wished for equality for all magical beings, and not just wizards. _

_Headed by the Stars, which many of us, myself included, had always assumed were myth, they will be leading the WereFolk, Elves, Fae, Dragons and other creatures which we may have thought extinct or non-existent. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were neither. _

_The question now, is which side do you stand on? With a third side being introduced, peoples loyalties will be put to test. Will this mean even more distrust? Or shall we see it as a light in this time of darkness._

"Oh dear." Arcas said, looking up from the article to see Charlie looking at his in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"I think you should read this." Arcas said, handing the article over to his soon-to-be-mate. "Then I think we should discuss what we are going to do."

**A/N – Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays if, like me, you don't celebrate Christmas... Here's another chapter! I did tell certain people that I would try to get one up by the twenty-fifth! And I did! As well as moving the war on a new step! Yay! Angry Stars here they come! Tell me what you think!! Cheers!! **


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

_So I'm trapped here. Forever. Stuck at this age for the rest of my existence?" _

"_I'm afraid so."_

"_Alone? I mean, you are hundreds of millions of mile away from me. I can't get to you."_

"_You won't be alone for ever."_

"_How long will I be alone for though? What will happen to me?"_

"_You'll revert. You'll forget about some things in life that you will no longer be able to do."_

"_What like?"_

"_Ah, well Stars, when searching for their mates are always um... virginal so to speak. Unless, like myself, they have a child. If that is the case, then nine times out of ten, that child will also become a Star."_

"_But I'm not yours by blood! The story about Zeus was just that! A story! We both know you are not my blood mother and Zeus certainly isn't my father! I don't even look like him!"_

"_Arcas, this isn't the point. Zeus gave you to me, thus you are my child. This is beside the point however. You will have to wait until you meet your mate to find out those joys of life."_

"_I already have! I mean, how can I become virginal _again_! That isn't how it works! Once it's gone, it's gone!"_

"_Not for a star it isn't. You'll be celibate for a long time."_

"_How long?" _

"_A while. I'm sorry this has happened. I didn't intend for this. I promise."_

"_Will I be completely alone?"_

"_No. There are others who were taken at a similar age. You will be able to visit them, once you have learnt. And when you have found your mate, you'll never be alone again."_

"_You keep mentioning that, who is it?"_

"_He hasn't been born yet. You will know when it is time."_

"_I'll know when its time?"_

"_Yes. Now, let me introduce you to Deneb. He was taken when he was twenty. He normally hangs around with Vega and Altair. Both of whom are of a similar age. You are the youngest though. I truly am sorry."_

"_Who is Deneb?"_

"_He is the Alpha of Cygnus. Please Arcas. Please forgive me for this. You will not be too far from me. Should you ever need me, I'll come. No matter what. I'll never let you down again._

Arcas sat up in his bed, breathing hard. His memories were all coming back. His mother had been right, he really did forget things. Of course, that didn't mean he remembered everything. He couldn't remember much from before he was a Star still, and he doubted he ever would.

He wished the memories wouldn't come back as dreams. He was loosing sleep, which admittedly, as a Star he didn't need, but he had been getting used to the novelty of it.

Now he was awake however, he could think about Charlie. The man was somewhat of a mystery to the poor Star. Arcas was not sure what Charlie actually thought of him. He wished he had some idea of what choice Charlie would choose. Either way, he supposed he should get Charlie to at least cut his hair very soon.

--

The next day Arcas sat down next to Charlie on the sofa in his rooms. Regulus was going to be leaving that day, saying something about meeting with a swan about something. Or was it a man about a dog? Whichever it was, Arcas felt it best not to ask.

"Morning Arcas." Charlie mumbled sleepily, letting out a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Morning. I was wondering last night about our mating. Um... Well, besides what it entails, seeing as no one actually seems able to tell me. Maybe it's because everyone I've asked hasn't mated yet." Arcas suddenly said, looking pleased with himself.

"I don't think that is it. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Your decision." Arcas said, choosing not to beat around the bush.

"Ah. Can I think about it a little longer?" Charlie asked nervously.

"Of course, sorry. One thing though, can you cut my hair?"

"Cut your hair? Why? It's nice like that."

"It's a ritual of the Stars. We cut out the colour once we meet our mates. Normally by letting our mates do the cutting. So would you?"

"Of course. I'd be honoured. When would you like to cut it?"

"Um... Now?" Arcas asked, handing a stunned Charlie a set of scissors he had gotten from the House Elves when he made the decision.

"Sure then. Sit down here." Charlie said, indicating to the floor space between his legs. Arcas smiled at him shyly, then knelt down on the floor in front of him.

Charlie had just picked the scissors up to begin cutting Arcas's hair, when the door to the rooms opened and Sirius literally spilled into the rooms with a large smile on his face.

"Arcas! I've got some people here who want to meet you!" Sirius exclaimed with a wide smile.

"Who?"

"Charlie? How did you get here?"

"Bill! Fred, George! Why are you here?"

"We came"

"To warn"

"Arcas about"

"Dumbledore." Fred and George told them, making both smile slightly.

"We already know. My mother sent me a letter, and Regulus brought Charlie here, dressed as a woman actually." Arcas said with a confused smile.

"A woman!"

"Charlie! We didn't"

"Know, you had"

"It in you!"

"Do have photos?" Bill added with a grin.

"Oi! And no, no one took any photos. Thank Merlin."

"Why would you want to do that?" Arcas piped up suddenly.

"Do what?" Bill asked, a little confused by the Star if he was honest.

"Why thank Merlin. He's dead. And was a bit weird if you ask me."

--

Arcas managed to avoid the Halloween ball by visiting a volcano during the holiday, but he could not avoid Christmas. Which was something he didn't understand. His mate had been very patient, trying to explain to him the joys of Christmas, but he was slowly giving up hope. Even Fred and George were failing.

"So we give people presents to celebrate the birth of someone who died over a thousand years ago, whom, to be honest, no one is entirely sure he existed anyway. Don't ask me if he did or not, I wasn't looking over that area during that time. Anyway, we buy and exchange gifts and put up a tree?" Arcas asked, looking at the bauble in his hands dubiously.

"Yes."

"Why?" Charlie groan and seriously considered smashing the bauble into his face to relieve himself of the pain.

"Just because." Bill pretty much whined.

"But – I don't get it. Is it like Halloween? Because, this guy's been dead a while now, so he isn't going to come and thank you for celebrating his birthday. Which, might I add, he probably never celebrated himself."

"That's not really the point."

"No. The point is that it's a time"

"To be with family and friends and surrounded by those you love."

"So my mother will be coming here?"

"No." Charlie admitted softly.

"But Fred and George said loved ones."

"Yes, but Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. He wasn't very impressed when he found out I was here."

"I don't understand the gift part."

"Let's be thankful that no one mentioned Santa." Bill muttered to the twins, groaning when Arcas looked at him curiously.

"Who's Santa?"

--

Voldemort secretly liked Christmas. It was the perfect time to bring misery upon the wizarding world. He had been advised by his super special secret advisor (not that he would ever call him that out loud) that Christmas Eve would be the perfect time to attack. Plenty of people would be there doing last minute shopping, and it would have been a brilliant act against the wizarding world.

He had been somewhat grouchy recently due to the Stars having joined the war. He knew that now, he had pretty much no chance of survival. He definitely would not win this war, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He wanted to leave his stain on the wizarding world. He wanted them to remember his name for centuries to come. _Fear_ it even.

So he planned the attack and when Christmas Eve came. He attacked.

The screams echoing around him were music to his ears. The sheer terror in the eyes of those he killed and tortured was something he would be able to take with him to the grave. He had chosen well and Diagon Alley was brought down around him on the Eve of Christmas.

Shockingly, it was the newly allied Elves who came to the rescue. Not the Stars, as many would have assumed. The Order and the Aurors were missing, which was something no one missed.

It wasn't until Voldemort decided to give the Alley to the Elves and to apparate away that the Order finally arrived. Followed swiftly by the Aurors.

Arriving in his mansion, somewhat surprised that no one had ever decided to do a background check on him and discover that he had Muggle family and thus was using their family home as his headquarters, he walked to his throne and waited for his followers to report back to him.

He didn't have to wait long before the first started to drift into the room, soon followed in groups, by the rest, until nearly everyone was there, and the only ones missing were either in Auror custody or dead.

"My followers. We successfully raided Diagon Alley and made the wizarding world fear us!" Voldemort announced to much cheer from the Death Eaters. "Now tell me exactly how well we did?"

"My Lord." A Death Eater with long white-blond hair poking out underneath his hood knelt in front of Voldemort.

"Malfoy, tell me what you know."

"I stayed behind for a while to see if I could hear anything of use. The overall tally was twenty-two killed by us and seven of ours killed. We managed to injure, permanently or not, over fifty." Lucius said, before quickly going back to his place amongst the other Death Eaters.

"Tell me Lusssciussss, what news have you of your ssson?" Voldemort asked smoothly.

"My lord, all and any attempts to contact him via owl are impossible. He has been placed somewhere unplottable, or under the Secret Keeper charm. I cannot get in touch with him, nor can I find out where he is. I'm sorry My Lord."

"Find out who the Sssecret Keeper is! Rodolphussss! What newsss do you have?" Voldemort asked, looking at another masked Death Eater, who quickly moved forward to face his lord.

"My Lord. There was no one of importance killed, however Madam Bones was there shopping with her niece, both of which were injured. I'm not sure how badly though My Lord."

"Ssseveruss! What does Dumbledore think of thisss?"

"My Lord, Dumbledore deliberately waited until the last minute to see how the Stars would react. All seven of the Death Eaters killed were killed by the Elves. The Order and the Aurors all seem to still follow by the rule of shoot to stun."

"My Loyal Death Eaters! Tonight we shall celebrate the success of our raid! Bring out the muggles!" With which, a family of terrified muggles were brought out to the centre of the room to be tortured.

--

When the Order arrived on the scene at Diagon, it was to a massacre to put it bluntly. The elves had managed to put the survivors into two groups, injured and not injured, and were currently guarding them. There were bodies littered on the ground, both Death Eater and civilian, the Death Eaters were the only ones that were physically injured. The blood silt from them, staining the cobbles on the floor.

Dumbledore looked over at the Elves that were still guarding over the uninjured, the injured having been sent to Saint Mungo's hospital. Having quickly come to a decision with himself, he chose to walk over to whom he assumed was the head Elf.

"Excuse me... Ah..." Dumbledore walked over to the tall blond elf.

"My name is Aerendyl, Dumbledore. What may I help?" The elf said in stilted English.

"Ah, Aerendyl. May I ask what you propose to do with those you guard?"

"They stay here. Unless there is safer place to go with them."

"Ah, well Diagon Alley has been pretty much destroyed so there will not be many places they can go that is safe." Dumbledore agreed, looking over at the distraught patrons of Diagon Alley. "Perhaps we should send those who have homes away from here, home and those who do not have anywhere to go, should perhaps come to Hogwarts."

"Why Hogwarts? It is school is it not?"

"Yes, it is a school. But it was also built to withstand any attempts to be seized in a war. It is a castle, Master Elf. It is built for these times in war."

"Very well. Then take them to this castle of yours. My kin and I shall leave now. We have people to see."

"Thank you for your help. If you would be so kind as to come to Hogwarts later on today or tomorrow if that is suitable for you."

"Of course. Thank you Mr Dumbledore. I shall see about that. Now we must be going." The elf, Aerendyl, then turned to talk to his fellow elves and they all disappeared out of the alley with a word. Presumably the use of a Portkey.

"Now then, if those of you who do not have anywhere else to go, then please form an orderly queue and I shall distribute portkeys to take you to Hogwarts to stay. As of now, Diagon Alley is no longer safe for anyone to live. Sorry." Dumbledore said, twinkle absent form his eyes.

"If everyone would also like to tell a fellow Auror of anyone you are missing, and we shall try to find them at Saint Mungo's. Thank you." Kingsley told them, once Dumbledore had finished.

"So everyone is coming to Hogwarts, Professor?" Tonks asked, looking at the group of over seventy wizards and witches. "Will they all fit?"

"Of course my dear. Hogwarts is somewhat bigger than most think. Have no fear over them fitting. Would you kindly start handing out these portkeys?"

Tonks nodded and took the portkeys from Dumbledore, proceeding to them drop them all on the floor, and then blushingly pick them up once more.

--

If one was to go start gazing at night during this time, they would have noticed a startling peculiarity. The nights were getting darker and, one by one, the Stars were leaving the sky.

It was a sign of the apocalypse to some. To others, however, it was a sign of something else altogether. It was a sign of war. And that war was very close.

--

"So Santa is this large jolly man, who enters the bedrooms of small children at night and no one ever thinks to question him? Why would anyone agree to let someone do that? Is it not um... frowned upon?"

"I don't think you are getting the gist of this, Arcus." Fred stated slowly, much to the amusement of his brothers, who had conceded defeat not too long before.

"Why though?"

"That's not the point! Just open your damned presents!" Fred finally yelled, making Arcas flinch away from his and shuffle closer to Charlie, who laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't yell at him Fred. It's not his fault he doesn't celebrate the same religions we do. In fact, I'm not sure why we celebrate Christmas either. None of us are Christians, no one in the wizarding world is."

"It's fun! Just let loose for a little while! Once you've opened your presents, we can go prank to newbies that have arrived!"

"George! They've been through the ringer! You were lucky to have closed your shop and missed it all!"

"We've been here a while Charlie. Some one else was managing the shop. Hopefully Lee got out alright. We are actually gonna head down to look." Fred admitted with a sheepish grin.

"Do you want to go now? I'll talk to Arcas. I wanted to give him his present from me alone anyway."

"Okay. See you later Arcas, Charlie!" Fred said, leading his other two brothers out of the room.

"What did you want to give me alone?" Arcas asked, smiling at Charlie when the taller male sat down next to the Star on the floor, when they were alone.

"I wanted to talk to you about the mating."

"What about it?"

"I've made my decision."

"Oh? What was your decision?"

"I wish to stay with my Dragons Arcas."

"Oh. So I'm guessing you don't want to officially mate with me."

"Can you not stay with me?"

"No. I have a duty as a Star. I need to go back to my constellation soon." Arcas admitted with a small shrug. "There's only so much lava I can consume before I fade away."

"So you'll die?"

"No. I just will fade and automatically return to my constellation.

"Well then, I want to be your mate. Can we go with the option where I stay here until my friends and family leave me? I promise to come to you when that happens. You said you could visit me."

"I could, yes. Is that what you would rather do?"

"Yeah, sorry. Maybe one day, I'll want to become a Star myself or something."

"Well then. I suppose we should officiate it. Um... What do we do?" Arcas asked sheepishly, looking down at the carpet.

"Ah, well I suppose I should show you then. Come on. Let's go to your room." Charlie said, holding out a hand for Arcas to take, and smiling when the Star placed his smaller hand in his.

"Why my room?" Arcas asked as he stood up and followed Charlie slowly to his bedroom.

"This is something best kept private. Exhibitionism is something to explore later on in the relationship."

--

Callista opened the door where someone was knocking urgently on the door. Outside, there was a small group of people huddled in the hallway.

"Can I help you?"

"We were attacked. The elders told us to find the Stars. You are them, are you not?" The chosen leader asked, shivering slightly.

"Attacked? Who by?"

"Voldemort. He found out our existence. You can rely on us to help your side."

"Um... I can tell you're weres but which kind?"

"We're leopards, jaguars and panthers, Please, may we come in?"

"Oh! Of course, sorry. How did you find me?"

"We followed the owl." The young were told he sheepishly, pointing to the exhausted owl on his friends shoulder.

"Ah, well then. Come on in and tell me the story. How old are you?"

"I'm the oldest one left. The elders were all killed. I'm twenty-four."

"Well, we'll sort something out for you to live in then, but first, I need to here what happened.

--

Arcas felt the need to leave the castle and go to the grounds. He had no idea why, but he felt it was important. Something was telling him where to go. He walked out of the castle, feeling a little empty.

Charlie had had to go back to his Dragons the day before, leaving Arcas to bravely pretend there was nothing wrong. Not to mention he had only just been introduced to the joys of mating. Charlie had told him he was insatiable, whatever that meant.

Thankfully, Bill had chosen to stay with him, lessening some of the pain with the link he had to Charlie. Arcas was not very often found far from Bill.

Which was why it was odd that he was here in the wee hours of the morning, walking towards the forest for some reason. Bill had fallen asleep in the new room the castle had placed in the quarters he shared with Remus. Arcas didn't feel the need to wake Bill up. Just to get out to the forest as soon as possible.

He heard a rustle coming from behind some of the trees. Entering the forest, he went towards where the sound was coming from and looked behind a small shrub with spiky twigs.

On the floor, half asleep and shivering, was a small Werepanther. Arcas gasped, waking up the small child, who looked at him with large green eyes.

"Mama told me to find the Star." The little creature said weakly, pushing himself up. Arcas quickly knelt down and gathered the small boy up in his arms, being careful not to invoke any skin contact.

"Don't worry little one. You've found the star."

"Can I sleep now?"

"Just one minute. Where is your mother?" Arcas said, quickly making a snap decision on what the answer was.

"She fell asleep in the bad man's arms. She wouldn't wake up when they dropped her on the floor. I ran here." The little kitten asked.

"What is your name little one?"

"Mama called me her kitten. The others called me Nebi." He said with a wide yawn.

"One last thing you need to do little one. Please open your mouth." Arcas told him, the little boy looked at him with keen eyes, which was somewhat unnerving, then opened his mouth. Arcas quickly jabbed his finger on the bush and then placed the bleeding digit into Nebi's mouth. "I'm sorry I had to do that little one, but now I can touch you. Unfortunately, you will now be recognised as my son. I'm sorry for what I have brought upon you."

"Are you my daddy now?"

"If you want to call me that. If not, then just call me Arcas."

**A/N – I have been waiting to introduce Nebi since I started this! He isn't a major part in the fic, but he will become important to Arcas very soon! Well he already is important to Arcas! Lol! So Arcas is mated huh? Lol! I'm sorry to anyone who wanted a sex scene, but I just can't write them. Maybe another time, huh? You don't wanna read it anyway, it was bound to be awkward. One other little thing, my grammar and sentencing with the elves is deliberate. They don't speak English well so um... Hopefully I managed to get that across... Lol! **

**Thanks go to everyone who supported me during my loss and to those who sent me encouraging reviews! This chapter is dedicated to you!"**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Arcas nibbled on his lower lip anxiously as he walked up to the castle, Nebi fast asleep in his arms. Maybe he shouldn't have adopted the tiny leopard, but it truly was the only way he could touch the child. He really didn't want to think about what Charlie was going to say. He'd only just learnt where babies came from a couple of days ago.

Charlie was not going to be impressed.

Nebi whimpered slightly in his sleep and nuzzled closer to Arcas. Arcas smiled softly and held the small child closer to him as he climbed the steps to the large castle. Arcas gently shook Nebi awake before he pushed the doors to the castle open.

"Come on, wake up. Let's show you your new home." Arcas whispered, smiling at Nebi when he woke up slowly and blinked up at Arcas.

"Home?"

"Yeah. Come on, I'll introduce you to uncle Remus."

"Uncle Remus?"

"Yeah, he's a werewolf, kind of like you! Come on, then you can go back to sleep." Arcas told him as he climbed the stairs, making sure to walk quietly past the Great Hall where many of the evacuees were being kept, many of the lost or orphaned children were staying in there, waiting for someone to claim them.

When they got to the rooms Arcas shared with Remus, Nebi was yawning widely, making Arcas silently coo at the cute sight. Walking in the rooms after a whispered password, Arcas looked around and saw Remus reading next to the fireplace as usual.

"Remus. Um... I kind of adopted a child," Arcas told him, deciding not to beat around the bush and grinning when Remus dropped the book he was reading in shock.

"Arcas. What?" Remus stood up and looked at Arcas then at the child in Arcas' arms.

"This is Nebi. His mother told him to come find me when their clan was attacked. He's a Werepanther." Arcas told him, then looked at Nebi. "Nebi, this is Uncle Remus. He teaches here like me."

"Hello." Nebi said shyly, before hiding his face in Arcas' chest.

"He going to be staying with us for a while. By a while I mean, until he's grown up." Arcas said, grinning widely and nodding.

"Arcas. What about your erm... second job." Remus asked curiously, glancing at Nebi, who seemed to have fallen back to sleep.

"Huh? Oh! He knows I'm a Star. Do you think I should get him checked by Madam Pomfrey?"

"Yes. Definitely. Where did you find him?"

"The forest. I have no idea how he got there. All he said was he needed to find the Star." Arcas said with a shrug, walking into his room, Remus following behind him. "Um... Do you think you can conjure somewhere for him to sleep?"

Remus sighed softly and conjured a small, low bed, which Arcas promptly placed Nebi in, tucking him in with a soft smile, brushing the child's hair away from his face. "What do you plan on doing at the end of the school year Arcas?"

"I was planning on leaving. Going back to my Star. But now I have a child. My mum had to leave me behind when she became one. I'd like to take a second to point out that she never actually became a bear. No idea where _that_ story came from." Arcas said with a chuckle, Remus smiled and followed Arcas back out of his room.

"So you are staying then? I thought you _had_ to go back."

"I do. Maybe only for a little while each time. When that comes, I can get people to watch over him. Charlie for example. He won't be coming back. The only thing I regret is making Nebi become a Star."

"What? How come?"

"It's the way it happens. As soon as Nebi nears twenty he'll become a Star. It might be months before his birthday, but he won't be human by the time he turns twenty years old. It happens to all the children of the Stars." Arcas told him with a small sigh.

"So why?"

"So I could help him. Maybe he won't hate me for it come the time. Maybe he will. I'll just have to live with it, like my mother had to live with it. Plus, being a Star isn't so bad really. It's just lonely."

"Arcas-"

"It'll be fine Remus. It may not be as bad for Nebi. He's a werepanther, he'll find it easier to find his mate, so maybe he won't be alone when it happens. Maybe he will have found his mate before that happens."

"And if he hasn't?"

"I'll never let him become lonely Remus. I'll just have to visit him more often. Plus, Charlie will be able to visit more than I will if he's a Star with me, if not, then Nebi will also be able to visit Charlie whenever he wants."

"Don't worry Arcas. Worry when the time comes."

--

The same night Arcas was wandering outside in search of a Werepanther, the Order were meeting in a spare classroom near Dumbledore's office.

"Order! I call this meeting to Order!" Dumbledore yelled over the voices of the rest of the Order. Everyone quietened when Dumbledore yelled at them. "Thank you. Now, what can anyone tell me about tonight?"

"Well, I think it is safe to say that we severely underestimated You Know Who and his Death Eaters. We only managed to capture three, Marcus Flint, Anthony Goyle and Jeremy Lucas. None of which are in _His _inner circle." Moody told them getting frowns form those who cared.

"The elves killed seven, like Moody said though, none of them were in the inner circle. Twenty-two civilians were killed and over fifty were injured. Twenty of which permanently so." Kingsley told him morosely.

"Why did we not ask the Star to come along? We would have found out what he was capable of." Molly Weasley asked, getting murmurs of agreement from those seated around the large oval table.

"We agreed not to ask Mr Orsini to come along. I felt that he could not be of any help. He does not have full control over his magic. What help could he have been? There have been no accounts of Stars helping in any war. I think it may be because they do not actually _have_ any battle skills." Dumbledore told them, receiving horrified gasps in return. "It would explain why the Stars themselves were not the ones to come to help."

"That's another thing Dumbledore. Why did we wait before heading to Diagon? Lives could have been saved had we not waited! Why did we have to wait until the Stars showed their hands?" Tonks asked, furious at the thought of those lives lost.

"My dear, we had to know what they could do. Unfortunately lives were lost, but it was for the greater good."

"You know what? Screw the Greater Good!" Tonks yelled, she stood up and then stormed out of the room, leaving stunned silence behind her.

--

Over the next couple of days, Arcas hid in his and Remus' rooms with Nebi, feeling reluctant to share the news of the small child with Dumbledore. At least not until he had heard back from Charlie, who he had sent a letter to the night of finding Nebi.

"You can't hide in here forever Arcas. Even if you hide Nebi in here, you will still have to leave sometime." Remus told him, amusement colouring his voice.

"Fine. You stay here with Nebi and I'll go show my face. I don't see why though, the new term doesn't start for another three days. Why can't I hide until then? I don't like the crowds!" Arcas whined, which was a sight to see and amused Remus highly.

"Don't whine Arcas, it doesn't become you. Now, what's this about crowds? Come on. Why don't you just head down for dinner. Bill is still here. You can sit next to him and I'll stay here and keep an eye on Nebi. Who needs more toys by the way." Remus added, looking at the few toys Remus and Sirius had conjured.

"Fine. I'll go to dinner, but I'm coming straight back afterwards. I'm not used to the amount of people."

"You're going to have to get used to it Arcas. When the students come back it's going to become even more crowded." Remus told him softly, getting a glare for his efforts.

Arcas huffed and then walked out of the room, ignoring the chuckling coming from Remus as he left.

Arcas wandered down the halls slowly, not looking forward to the crowds of people that would be in the Great Hall.

Upon opening the doors, he searched out Bill, finding him sitting next to one of the twins, Arcas had a good idea that it might be Fred, at the teachers table. Arcas made his way past the tables, ignoring the whispers coming from those that had an idea of what he was. Dodging out of the way of a man who was leaving the room, Arcas hurried the last couple of steps and sat down in the seat next to Bill with a relieved sigh.

"You okay?" Bill asked, amused smile on his face.

"I'm alright, I just don't like crowds." Arcas muttered, picking at the potatoes he had placed on his plate.

"Why are you here then?"

"Remus forced me to come down."

"Ah, still hiding my new little nephew from everyone in the castle?" Bill asked in amusement.

"Yes. I don't want Dumbledore knowing about him just yet. I don't trust him."

"With good reason. Wanna know why he kept you, Remus and Sirius out of the loop about Diagon?" Bill asked quietly, sending a glance to where Dumbledore was sitting further down the table, talking to Flitwick.

"Why? I had wondered."

"He wanted to test you. Well by you I mean the whole group of Stars, you included. He doens't think you have any usable battle skills."

"He would be right of course. We don't have battle skills. We have allies. That is what he would have seen at Diagon. Indeed, I believe it was _our_ allies that saved the day so to speak. No Dumbledore. Which must be smarting a little." Arcas said with a side smile, making Bill chuckle and catching the attention of Fred.

"What's up little Star? How is my baby neffie-poo?" Fred asked with a grin.

"He's fine. Remus said I need to get him some more toys. Where do you buy toys?" Arcas asked both brothers next to him.

"Hogsmeade has a couple of shops that might be of interest. You may want to take Nebi with you, which would mean telling people about him."

"I'll tell you what I told Remus. I'm not telling anyone but immediate family until I hear back from Charlie. I don't really want to tell anyone until I know that Charlie knows. It's only fair he knows he is a daddy before everyone else does." Arcas told him with a shy smile.

"Fair enough. Well I can take you out shopping tomorrow if you want, then later we can all take Nebi out shopping, when everyone knows. I'd imagine he will be in need of clothes soon."

"Yes, there is only so much Remus will be willing to shrink for me." Arcas admitted with a shy smile, getting laughs from the two brothers.

"Well we can cover all that when people know about him. Have you finished playing with your food?" Bill asked, looking pointedly at the plate of mashed food.

Arcas followed where Bill was looking and blushed. "Yes, why?"

"Come on, I want to go see my nephew. We can then discuss what we need to buy when we go shopping tomorrow." Bill said, standing up. Arcas and Fred followed, and walked through the tables on their way out of the room.

As Arcas passed, a man stood up, bumping into Arcas and sending him tumbling into Bill on front of him. A pained yell indicated to everyone that knew, that Arcas had touched Bill's skin.

Arcas jumped back away from Bill, looking at him guiltily when Bill rubbed his arms that Arcas had grabbed instinctively. Where his hands had been were angry red handprints.

--

Hermione watched Professor Orsini closely as he walked into the Great Hall and made a beeline for where two of the Weasley's were sitting, Bill and one of the Twins. She had no idea which one and even less of idea of where the other one was. Nor did she particularly care. They made her uneasy whenever they were around.

She watched however, when the professor seemed to be talking about something, then blushed at a comment made by Bill. She watched closely as they all stood up, and left the table.

She was watching then, when the man bumped into Orsini and made him stumble, grabbing hold of Bill's arm in the process. She was watching when Bill's skin turned angry and blistered. She was watching and she knew.

She worked out the mystery that was Professor Arcas Orsini. The only thing she didn't know was whether she would share what she knew. Would Ron care that his professor wasn't a Vampire like he was almost certain of. Would Ginny care that the man she had her eye on was possible one of the least available men around. Would anyone care that they were being taught by a Star?

--

Voldemort sat up straighter as his spy came into the room and bowed at his feet, forgoing the curtesy of kissing his masters robes and standing up, mask in place over his face.

"Tell me what you know?"

"Dumbledore admitted he didn't arrive because he wanted to see what the Stars would do."

"And?"

"He does not believe that the Stars have any skill when it comes to battle."

"Does he now?"

"Yes, however, there is one thing."

"Yesss?"

"The Star working for him."

"Potter?"

"Yes, I over heard him talking to one of the Weasley's. He admitted that the Stars have no skill when it comes to battle. They rely on their allies."

"Do they really?"

"Yes, and there is one final thing."

"Tell me."

"The Star, Arcas, he has adopted a Wereleopard. Young, but I have no idea how young. He is keeping it a secret until he hears back from his mate."

"Try and find a way of getting the child away from the Star." Voldemort hissed, watching as his follower nodded and turned to leave the room. "You have please me... Kinsgley."

--

On the isle of Azkaban, several bright white lights appeared on the edges of the wards, leaving behind tall, white figures.

"Find the prisoner, no one else." The lead figure told the other three, getting nods in agreement.

They then split up at the doors, two going up, two going down. The lead figure was one of the two going down, deeper into the dingy hallways of the dark, foreboding prisons.

Since the Dementors had left, they were not quite so bad, but the cold of the halls seemed to seep into the very bones of those that were forced to stay there.

The leader was the one to find the prisoner, and stood outside of the cage-like doors, waiting for when the prisoner noticed her standing there.

"Who are you?" Came the gravely voice, once the prisoner noticed her.

"I'm a Star. You can call me Callista. I've come to give you a proposition."

"Go on."

"I'll break you out of here, but you work for me. Give me information on your master, who did not bother to break you out."

"Why?"

"I told you, information."

"Okay."

"Good. And I speak for the whole sky when I say, welcome Barty Crouch Jnr."

**A/N – Okay, so this is a little smaller than normal, for that I'm sorry, but well I'm slowly coming to the end of what I have planned for this fic, after the next chapter, I'm going in blind... I do have a plan of how to end it all though. Not sure when that will be though! It won't be long I'm afraid. I think I am completely incapable of writing long stories! Lol! **

**Well, anyway, you do find out who the spy is in this! Honestly now, who thought it was Kingsley? Lol! Please tell me what you think! I'm completely overwhelmed by the amount of reviews I'm getting for this!! Thank you!! **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"My loyal followers. Tonight we have need for celebration. Tonight one of us has managed to make his way back to us." Murmurs spread through the group of Death Eaters at this, each trying to guess who had come back. Only one was not joining the whispers.

"Tonight Bartemius Crouch has made his way back to us from Azkaban. Welcome him my followers, and may we start the celebration. Bring them in!" The whispers got more frantic and then silence as a family of muggles was brought into the centre of the room.

--

"Dumbledore, not long ago I was wandering through the forbidden forest and I came across this little boy—No. Um—Dumbledore I have a son, surprise! No, that won't work either."

"What are you doing?" Arcas jumped in surprise as the sound of Remus' amused voice.

"Oh! Um... I need to tell Dumbledore about Nebi but I don't know how."

"Have you heard back from Charlie then?"

"Yes. He is going to try and come over to meet him as soon as he can find the time. Apparently the dragons are acting a little and no one can figure out why."

"So what did he say?"

"He said he would have done to same thing. So how do I tell Dumbledore?"

"Just be honest with him. Chances are he'll turn the tables by telling you that he already knew." Remus admitted with a shrug, before picking up a playing Nebi. "You could always take the little guy with you."

"That's a good idea. Right, I'll go tell him now. I need to officially adopt him through the ministry though. How do I do that if I don't exist?"

"Well Harry Potter exists,"

"No. Harry Potter died, remember?"

"Ah, I don't suppose Arcas Orsini existed ever did he?"

"They didn't really have the means to make him exist back then. Pretty much just agreed when my mother said I was hers."

"Then give me a couple of days and I will try to sort something out. Are you going to tell Dumbledore now then?"

"Yep, hand me Nebi." Remus handed the little boy over to Arcas, who held Nebi close and walked to the door.

"Arcas, good luck."

"Thank you, not that we'll need it, eh Nebi?" Arcas asked walking out of the door and into the halls of Hogwarts. It was early morning, with about an hour until the first lesson of the new term, which was one of the reasons he was telling Dumbledore now.

Wandering through the halls, smiling at the odd few students he passed, Arcas made his way to Dumbledore's office and paused at the statue guarding the office.

"Um—Snickers." Moving Nebi slightly to get more comfortable, Arcas walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to Dumbledore's office, waiting until he was called in, then opened the door and walked in.

"Ah, Professor Orsini. How may I help you this fine morning? And who is this with you?"

"This is the reason I came to you. Dumbledore, I would like you to meet my son, Nebi. Nebi, say hello to Professor Dumbledore." Nebi looked at the old man in front of him and then shyly buried his head in his father's hair.

"Ah, you have a son? This is—soon." Dumbledore said, looking at Nebi questioningly.

"Oh, well I sort of found him a week or so ago. I adopted him." Arcas said, moving to sit down, placing Nebi on his lap.

"How do you plan on juggling him and your lessons?"

"Ah, well Bill Weasley has offered to watch over Nebi whilst I am in lessons and Charlie will be coming back for a little while soon as well. I will not forget about the lessons."

"That is good. Well I am glad you came to me about this, and I am very happy for you."

"Thank you, I should get back now anyway, I have a lesson soon, if I don't leave now, I won't get Nebi back _and_ make it to my classroom in time. Thank you for understanding." Arcas said, smiling and standing up, shifting a now sleeping Nebi onto his hips.

"Anytime. You know you can come to me with anything."

"Of Course headmaster. Now, I must leave. Bye."

--

"So this is Hogwarts huh?"

"Regulus, don't wander off. We need to find Arcas."

"How come Deneb didn't come with us?"

"He will be later. Come on, I wanna see Arcas."

"Come on then." Four Stars walked up the steps to Hogwarts late one evening; a couple of days after Arcas introduced Nebi to Dumbledore. They walked straight to the Great Hall and then pushed the doors open, delighting in the shocked looks on the Students faces when they walked in.

"Arcas!! We came to see you!!" The only female Star ran from the other three and up to where Arcas was sitting at the table.

"Vega? What are you doing here?"

"Oh well, me and Altair wanted to see you, Deneb too, but he's busy right now. Anyway, me and Altair wanted to see you and so Regulus and Procy said they would come with us! So here we are!" The female Star, Vega, said excitably practically jumping on the spot in her excitement.

"Calm down Vega. Come on, I'll show you to my rooms. I have someone to show you anyway."

"Ooh! Do we get to me _Charlie_?" Vega asked, teasingly.

"Nope, he's gone back to be with his dragons for the time being. He will be back in a couple of days of so." Arcas told her, walking with her back ot the group of Stars and then leading them all out of the Great Hall.

"So then Arcas, how have you been? Cally has been out of her mind with worry over you. You sure know how to stir things up!" Procyon, a tall male with milky blue eyes and pure white hair, asked as they walked through the halls of Hogwarts.

"Ah, well things have been a little hectic here. I heard about the attack on Diagon obviously, some of the survivors are still staying here in a separate part of the castle.

"Really? I thought they would have relocated them come the new term." Regulus said, shocked.

"There isn't really anywhere else they can go. So those who have children already here, or young children are staying in a previously unused part of Hogwarts. So how is Rhea, Procy?"

"Rhea's fine. All the mates are staying in the constellation to give them some light. Well besides Alethea and Dorea. They refused to stay away. Dorea said something bout knowing how the wizarding world works." Procyon said with a shrug.

"Ah, how are all of you coping without your mates?" Arcas asked, concerned for his friends."

"Ah, well, I'm fine. Nero is still his brutish self, I think he secretly likes being in charge on a whole constellation to himself." Altair, a Star shorter than Procyon, but taller than Arcas, with pale grey, almost white eyes, said with a wide grin.

"Huh, I don't know about you lot, but I miss Jeffrey the most at night, if you get what I mean!" Vega, the shortest of the group, with lilac eyes and long white hair, said, getting laughs from the others with her.

"So who is it that you want to show us?" Regulus asked, pale blue eyes twinkling.

"Ah, well come on in and I'll show you." Arcas said, walking through the portrait opening and waiting for the four to follow him.

"So? Oh, hello."

"Guys this is Bill Weasley, not who I wanted to tell you about. Is he asleep?" Arcas asked Bill, who was sitting in a chair, reading.

"Yeah, I've just put him to bed."

"Oh, well then, this is Vega, Altair, Procyon and Regulus. If you lot are quiet, then I can show you who I want you to meet."

"Okay, we can be quiet," Vega said, almost vibrating with excitement. Arcas looked at her and sighed, before motioning them to follow him quietly.

"Shh, he's sleeping." Arcas said, opening the door and then leading them over to the smaller bed in the room. "This is Nebi."

"Ooh! He's so cute!" Vega exclaimed quietly, Arcas nodded quickly in agreement, then ushered them back out of the room.

"Who is he Arc?" Regulus asked, moving to sit down next to Bill.

"He's my son."

"Er... Now, I'm no expert on these things, but um... isn't there normally a nine month wait?" Altair asked, grabbing the seat nearest the fire before Arcas could.

"Well yes."

"And Stars can't get pregnant." Regulus added, with a grin.

"Yes, well see—"

"And you and Charlie, well, let's just say you don't strike me as being the top." Procyon said with a wide grin.

"See, the thing—Top? What do you mean?" Everyone in the room stopped and looked at Arcas, before looking at Procyon.

"Ah, well see—What was it you were saying about Nebi?"

"Oh! I found him and adopted him!"

"You adopted him?"

"Well what else was I gonna do?"

"Find his parents?"

"He didn't have any."

"Give him to someone who wouldn't ruin his life forever?"

"I'm not ruining his life."

"He'll be a Star! He'll be alone!"

"Not for a long while yet, and he'll be brought up by Stars, so he'll be sued to it. At least this way he'll have a mate. He may even find his before he becomes a Star, so he won't ever be alone."

"Maybe, well congratulations."

--

_C_

_There will be an attack on Hogsmeade tonight, nine. _

_B_

--

Voldemort walked through the village, grinning and throwing the occasional Crucio at any one who tried to pass him. He laughed as he set fire to another building, relishing in the screams he could hear.

"Leave no survivors! Destroy everything, we will not leave until we get the Star." Voldemort yelled, stripping a woman of her skin when she was pushed into his sight.

"No survivors? Huh, well that's a bit mean." Voldemort spun around and stared at the woman standing nest to what was once the Three Broomsticks.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Callista. Now, why are you attacking this village again? Besides for the fear and general destruction."

"I want to Star."

"Well I'm a Star. Will I do?"

"I want to one that resides within Hogwarts."

"Ah, that'd be me." Another Star, this time a male, stepped forward, coming up next to Callista.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Procyon."

"I want Harry Potter!"

"Harry Potter's dead. Did you not get the memo?"

"You lie! He is a Star."

"You're not going anywhere near Arcas. Sorry to break it to you." Voldemort glared at the two stars and then apparated away, soon followed by

--

After Voldemort and the Death Eaters had left, the clean up began. It was during this that they discovered the body of Amos Diggory amongst the dead and amongst the nine captured Death Eaters, was one Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"I say we question him and then send him to Azkaban!" Tonks said from her space at the table.

"Why question him? We caught him in the act!" Moody growled, looking around at everyone who might disagree.

"He needs a trial. We have to ask him why he did it."

"What's to say he has a reason?"

"He might not have a reason, but we need to find out. We can't just send him to Azkaban without finding out."

"Nymphadora is right of course. He will have to have a trial. It has been scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine. We will find out the answers then. Now, does anyone know the final count?"

"It was worse than Diagon. We lost twenty-four, five of which were our own people, including Amos. Someone needs to tell Mrs Diggory. This is going to kill her. There were only five people that got away without any serious injuries. The Stars found out and arrived pretty quickly or else there would not have been this many alive. I don't know how they found out though." Minerva said, looking at the numbers in front of her.

"One of the Stars that is here was there, can we ask him how he knew?" Dumbledore asked.

"I already have asked them. I was suspicious of how they knew before us." Moody told them.

"And?"

"He said they have someone on the inside. He also told me that they think _He_ knows about Severus."

"Did they tell you who their man on the inside is?"

"No. He refused to tell me that."

"Dumbledore, what are we going to do now? It is because of the disorder in this group that Voldemort managed to kill so many people." Percy Weasley said uncomfortably.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean, if we were not so disorganised, then perhaps someone would not have to tell Mrs Diggory that Voldemort has managed to rob her of her husband now, as well as her son."

"Amos knew what the risks were when he joined the Order."

"He wasn't there for the Order, he was there picking out a present for his anniversary. Many people were there shopping as Diagon is no longer available." Filius told him, making everyone glance down at the table.

"Then what are you implying? That this happened because of me?"

"No. Just, we no longer have trust within the Order. That was lost since you started having an inner-circle. You do not trust all of us as much as you trust others."

**A/N – Okay, so another short chapter that is more a filler really, I just need to move things along a little. I don't think that there is much left of this story, things are all coming to a head pretty quick! In the next chapter you'll find out why Kingsley did what he did, the bad bad man! Lol! **

**Charlie will also be in the next chapter!! Yay! So we will have some interaction between the new family! Tell me what you think! I am truly blown away with the response this story has received, thank you so much!! **


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"This is the hearing of Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. Accused of murder, torture and terrorism of wizarding Britain." Madam Bones said clearly as a rather worn looking Kingsley was lead into the room and chained down to the chair in the centre. "How do you plead?"

"Not guilty." The Order members in the crowd frowned along with everyone else in the room.

"Why's he pleading not guilty? He was arrested at the scene." Tonks whispered to Moody sitting next to her.

"He has nothing else to lose by pleading not guilty. Even if he pleaded guilty, his crimes are too large to be given some leeway." Moody whispered back watching as Madam Bones collected herself and began the questioning once Kingsley had been dosed with Veritaserum.

"What is your full name?"

"Kingsley Shacklbolt."

"Where were you on the night of February Fourteenth, nineteen-ninety-eight?"

"Hogsmeade."

"You have been accused of being a Death Eater. How do you plead?"

"Guilty." Even though many of those present for the hearing were well aware of where Kingsley was found, there were still scattered mutterings throughout the courtroom.

"Why?" Tonks shouted out, being heard over the crowd and getting a frown from Madam Bones.

"What are your reasons for joining Voldemort?" Amelia asked, ignoring the flinch Voldemort's name brought from most people.

"He has my family."

"Pardon?"

"He has my family. They will be dead now. I failed him." Kingsley told them monotonously.

"How did he get your family?"

"He infiltrated my house whilst I was at work one day. He used them as leverage."

"Why did you not tell anyone?"

"He told me they would be dead before I even thought of telling anyone. There was nothing I could do."

"Kingsley. In light of what we heard today, I sentence you to life in Azkaban." Amelia said sadly, banging her hammer down. Kingsley was fed the Veritaserum antidote and then led out of the room.

"Why did she sentence him? He was innocent." Tonks hissed, looking forlorn.

"He admitted to murder Tonks. He is still guilty of killing innocent people. He had to be sentenced. She could have given him the kiss but she didn't. He was let off easy, though it may not seem that way."

"Damn right it doesn't! _He_ had his family!"

"There is nothing we can do for them now. They will likely have been killed as soon as Voldemort got word of Kingsley's capture."

--

"Have you contacted the elves?"

"Yes. They are ready whenever we need them."

"How is Sebastian faring?"

"He enjoys being back with his own kind I think. It is novel to see old friends again."

"How long has it been?"

"Since we mated or since he last saw them?"

"The latter."

"Oh, only a couple of hundred years, but I think he enjoys rubbing his status in their faces."

"Will he be leading them in this upcoming battle?"

"He will be leading a group. He is more into subterfuge than full on battle. As most elves are these days. I remember when everyone knew they existed."

"Yes but that was a time when most knew _we _existed."

"True."

"So the battle is nearly upon us."

"Do you think we are ready?"

"We are more than ready."

"Is everyone in place?"

"Deneb left yesterday. Soon everyone will be where they are needed."

"I heard Arcas has a son already."

"Tell me about it. I'm far to young to be considered a grandmother."

"What's it called?"

"_It_ is a young male Wereleopard called Nebi, Alrisha. He's not an It."

"Sorry. You never said the gender though."

"Well now I did."

"I hate battle. Everyone gets antsy."

"The mates all know where they need to be if not in the sky?"

"Yes. Sebastian decided to become leader and organiser of the mates as well the elves. I think he likes the attention."

"He's mated to you, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Now now."

"I always thought you would mate with a merman if I was completely honest."

"Most did. You didn't mate with a werebear, why should I mate with a merman. Just because my form is a fish."

"Calm down Alrisha, I was only saying."

"Well don't." Alrisha said snappily. Callista sighed and went back to checking through the missives she had been sent. Alrisha was far too tetchy sometimes.

--

"Chaaarliiiiiiie!" Was the battle cry that woke part of the castle on the first Sunday morning of March. Those in the vicinity of the Great Hall were witness to their, normally withdrawn, professor of war throw themselves at a shocked red head, covering his face in kisses.

"Er.... Arcas?"

"Hmm?"

"People are watching."

"Oh. Sorry." Arcas let go of his mate, flushing slightly when he saw the gossiping people, but not letting go of his hand.

"I came here to meet my new son." Charlie said quietly, looking at the now bored and scattering crowd, as they made their way into the Great Hall.

"His name is Nebi and he's just so cute. He's in our rooms at the moment being watched by Bill."

"Bill's still here?" Charlie asked, surprised.

"Yes, I told you so in my last letter."

"Yeah but that was sent over a month ago. I thought he may have had to have left for his job by now."

"Oh. Well he took leave for a while to stay with me a guess. Would you like to grab something to eat before you meet Nebi?"

"Sure. Why didn't you bring him down with you?"

"He doesn't like the staring students so I pretty much stays in my rooms. I've been given new rooms by the way. I moved into them last week."

"That's good. How come?"

"Remus wanted some space I think. Personally I think he is finally going to do something about his relationship with Sirius. They're clearly in love with each other. Plus some Stars arrived so they are staying in rooms off mine."

"Sounds fun. How are things with you anyway?"

"I'm good. I missed you though. What are we going to do Charlie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, being away from you is horrible. I only made it with my sanity this long because of Nebi and your brothers. Without them, I don't know what I would have done." Arcas admitted, looking down at the table, playing with the food on his plate.

"I'll be honest and say I didn't really like being away from you, but I love being with my Dragons. I don't want to have to give them up but I don't suppose I can have the best of both worlds, can I?"

"We'll discuss this more in my rooms I think." Arcas said suddenly, glancing briefly at Dumbledore. Charlie looked at him in confusion then nodded slowly.

"Okay. I want to meet Nebi anyway. I want to catch up with Bill as well of course. I want to meet these Stars as well. You're the only Star I've actually met."

"Oh! You'll love them. My best friends are here, though Deneb only arrived last night. He's currently swimming on the lake."

"On the lake?"

"Deneb is the swan. You know, Cygnus?"

"Oh. You can turn into your animals?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should spend some time getting to know each other a bit better as well." Arcas admitted, blushing slightly.

"I think that's a good idea."

--

"I call this meeting to order." McGonagall shouted, banging on the table and nodding in satisfaction when the members around the table quietened.

"Where's Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, why isn't he heading this meeting."

"He is the reason we are having this meeting." Sirius said, looking at the members around the table. "If anyone has a problem with that, then now might be the best time to leave."

Silence fell on the table, and though many shifted uncomfortably and cleared their throats, none left the room and Sirius stared in satisfaction.

"Right, as you've pointed out Dumbledore is not here. We called this meeting to discuss what we are going to do. Due to Dumbledore's pigheadedness with regards to this war we are stuck fighting, we lost five of our members in the battle of Hogsmeade. We now need to admit defeat."

"What?!"

"Outrageous!"

"How can you!?"

"Quiet! Not to Voldemort. Never. Voldemort cannot win. However, he is stronger than us. We have twenty members compared to Voldemort's hundreds. We have to admit that we are not going to win this war going the way we have been." McGonagall said, looking at the members around the table.

"How come Moody is not here?" Arthur asked, looking around the table.

"He is too close to Dumbledore to trust currently." Sirius told them, getting an understanding nod from Arthur even whilst Molly huffed.

"So now, I called you all here to discuss what we can do."

"What do you suggest?" Bill Weasley asked, ignoring his mother's attempts at shutting him up.

"I suggest contacting the Stars."

"How?"

"Does anyone know any we can contact?"

"We know Arcas. He can contact his mother." Remus said, finally speaking up from Sirius' side.

"Will he though?"

"If we ask him? I think so. He has no reason to refuse." McGonagall told them sternly.

"He could refuse because of the treatment he received from Dumbledore." Percy pointed out quietly.

"He may, but Arcas isn't like that. I don't think he will mind. In fact he may welcome it."

"Well, now that that has been sorted out, we need to discuss what we are going to do about Dumbledore." McGonagall stated grimly.

--

Whilst the Order was discussing what to do with their former leader, many of the wizarding world were stunned. Due to the many now living in Hogwarts, it was decided that, regardless of the risk of Voldemort, to start to rebuild Diagon Alley.

What stunned many of the wizards there was_ who_ they were receiving the help from. Many elves, stars and weres had turned up to offer their help and, perhaps surprisingly, they were well received. There didn't appear to be any prejudice between the odd group of builders.

"Do you think it's working?" Callista asked, looking at the groups of mixed races helping each other to build the different shops and flats.

"Is what working?" Alrisha asked, looking at the groups, and perhaps secretly ogling her mate's backside.

"Stop ogling." Maybe not so secret then. "And getting the groups to mesh. Getting rid of the prejudices of the wizarding world."

"It seems to be. Where are the vampires and elementals?"

"The vampires refused to help, saying they would only come to aid us and not the naïve and stupid wizards. The elementals were of the same opinion. We also received a missive from the Dryads, which shocked me."

"Why? Betelgeuse is mated to one. Have you heard from the other nymphs?"

"No. I don't think we will either. They don't like war. It hurts the elements, which is why I was shocked to hear form the Dryads. Anyway, Praeci and Dede are trying to convince the vampires to change their mind."

"Is it working?"

"Not really."

"Does it matter?"

"Not really."

"So why care?"

"Don't know."

"Have Castor and Pollux met the Weasley twins yet?" Alrisha asked after a couple of moments silence and not so secret ogling of the brunet elf.

"No thank gods. Why do you ask?" Callista said, rolling her eyes when she saw what truly had her fellow Stars attention.

"Just dreading when they do meet. Hopefully it'll be in the middle of a battle and they'll all be too busy."

"Elouise and Jacob won't let Gemini do anything."

"You hope."

"Well Elouise won't anyway."

"Shouldn't we be helping?" Alrisha asked after another moments silence, glancing around her at the hustle and bustle of the builders.

"Perhaps."

--

"Wormtail!" Pettigrew whimpered as he ran into the throne room, hoping that Voldemort hadn't inadvertently found out where those spare screws were supposed to have gone.

"Yes Milord?"

"Come here." Pettigrew nervously approached his lord and master and then, after a pointed look, held out his arm with the dark mark burned into it. He flinched from the burning pain as Voldemort called the other Death Eaters to him, and limped away clutching his arm to him, to join the appearing Death Eaters.

"My followers! I have called you here today to impart my plan. We need to get to the Stars. In order to do that we need leverage against them."

"M-my lord, how are we to do this?" One brave Death Eater asked, making the other Death Eaters to swiftly yet discreetly move away from the stupid and probably new Death Eater.

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort held the curse for a few minutes before the scream began to bother him and he stopped, turning to the brighter, or at least quicker and more weathered Death Eaters, ignoring the pathetic whimpers form the bundle on the floor. "Now, to answer your question. Not that you deserve to know. We will be kidnapping the Star, Harry Potter's, newly acquired child! Wormtail! You will go to Hogwarts in your other form to spy and gather information about the youngest, soon-to-be, Star."

--

"Mother! What are you doing here?" Arcas asked, stunned as he saw his mother walking towards him in the entrance hall. Whispers from the students grew when they noticed just who and _what_ Arcas called his mother. Those who hadn't realised they were being taught by a Star now knew.

"I came with news of another missive. Another side has taken notice and joined the war with us." Callista told him walking up to him and kissing his cheek. "And of course to meet my new grandson."

"Who?"

"Let us talk in your rooms. I also wish to meet your mate. Where is he?"

"Staying in my rooms with Nebi, Altair and Vega. Come on, I'll show you my rooms." Arcas said, leading his mother up the stairs and through the hallways to his rooms.

"How are you getting on with Charlie? Have you finally learned what mating is all about?" Callista asked, delighting in the blush that rose on her son's face.

"We are getting on quite well. We decided we needed to get to know each other a bit better than we already do and so he took some time away from his Dragons. He'll be going back at the end of April. And yes. I know what mating is now." Arcas added, blushing furiously as they walked down the hallway to Arcas' room.

"I'm happy fro you Arcy. You're my baby boy and you're all grown up!" Callista gushed, hugging a shocked Arcas.

"Come on. Let's introduce you to Charlie and Nebi. _Ursa Major._"

"Oh you used me as your password." Callista gushed as they walked in and were met with the sight of Nebi watching Vega and Altair bicker with one another around an exasperated Charlie.

"What's going on here?"

"They're arguing whose form is better."

"Er... Vega doesn't have a form."

"What?"

"She's the Lyre. As in the harp. She has no animal form." Arcas said softly, a smile twitching at his lips when Charlie groaned and fell back on his chair, much to Nebi's amusement.

"This is my mother." Arcas said after a couple minutes of silence where Charlie glared at the two grinning Stars.

"What!" Charlie yelped, jumping up and walking over to the two amused Stars.

"I said, this is my mother, Callista. Mum, this is Charlie, my mate." Arcas said, putting his hand in Charlie's and squeezing it comfortingly.

"Hello Callista."

"And this is Nebi. Nebi, say hello to Granny!" Arcas said, picking up Nebi and holding him on his hip.

"Hi." Nebi smiled at Callista and then hid his face once again in his father's neck.

"He's adorable! And so not calling me Granny. I'm too young to be a granny."

"You're over three thousand. You're not exactly a spring chicken." Altair pointed out from behind the couple.

"Shush you. It's lovely to meet you Charlie, but I need to tell you some news. It involves you as well Charlie."

"What? Has this got something to do with the missive you received?"

"Yes."

"What is it about then?" Arcas asked, walking over to the other sofa and sitting down with Charlie and with Nebi on his lap.

"I received a missive from one of our oldest allies early yesterday morning."

"Really! You mean-" Vega interrupted, before blushing at having interrupted Callista.

"Yes Vega. I mean the Dragons have contacted me. They are standing by their handler."

"Huh?" Altair said intelligently, the others looked almost as confused.

"They will stand by you, Charlie."

--

**A/N – So hopefully I have answered the question I have been asked a lot. Have Charlie and Arcas mated? Yes they have. And the Dragons are following Charlie. Whoda thunk it. **

**So anyway, things are slowly coming to a head and I'll admit this is as far as I actually have planned. Heh. I do have a plan of how Voldie will meet his end but as for what is gonna happen to Dumbles... Not a clue. He's not that bad by the way, he's just a little misguided. That might come out in a later chapter. Bless him. Poor deluded old man. **

**So anyway, tell me what you think and what **_**you**_** want to happen to Dumbledore, it might give me some idea. I think I have a vague one of what I want to do to him. But, shockingly enough, I actually kinda like the guy.... I kind of **_**don't**_** want to kill his off. **

**Oh the woes of me and this shockingly long author's note. I'm sorry for that. And I'll stop now.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Arcas was sitting in the sitting room of his quarters, talking to his mother, when an owl flew into the window, making quite a bang and scaring Nebi into crying.

"What on earth was that noise?" A scruffy looking Charlie asked, yawning widely as he walked out of the room he shared with Arcas and went to pick up Nebi, settling him down.

"An owl just flew into the window." Arcas said looking at the window with amusement.

"What?" Charlie asked, yawning and scratching the back of his neck.

"I said—"

"I know what you said, I just didn't quite believe it." Charlie interrupted before Harry could repeat himself. Harry shrugged and went back to playing with Nebi.

"Shouldn't someone let it in then?" Altair asked, looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

"Oh for the love of—" Callista stood up from her seat on the sofa and walked over to the window, passing a still somewhat confused and sleepy Charlie.

Callista opened the window and held out her arm for a small owl to hop onto. Attached to it's leg was a letter with familiar script on it. Taking the letter from the owl, the owl hooted cheerfully at her then flew back out of the window.

"Who's the letter from?"

"B."

"B? Who's B?" Arcas asked, looking up from Nebi.

"Our eyes and ears within Voldemort's troops."

"Ooh, what does he have to say?" Altair asked, sitting up and looking at Callista eagerly.

"It says—oh no."

"What?" Charlie asked, sitting down next to Arcas and ruffling Nebi's hair.

"It would seem Voldemort has taken an interest in Nebi."

"What?! Why?" Arcas asked, hugging the little werepanther close to his chest and almost smothering the child if Charlie hadn't gently tugged him away from Arcas. No one noticed the rat ran to hide underneath the chair nearest the portrait entrance.

"I have no idea why."

"He might know who you were." Charlie muttered, calming down a whimpering Nebi.

"What? Why would he care who I am?"

"You _were_ Harry Potter. He is quite pivotal in this war, or so many think. Voldemort is one of those many." Charlie told him.

"But I'm not Harry Potter anymore."

"Doesn't seem to matter to Voldemort."

"What do we do?"

"There isn't much we can do except not leave Nebi alone, which is what we are doing anyway. Don't worry Arcas, I doubt Voldemort has anything planned." Callista soothed.

"Right then! Who wants breakfast?" Altair asked, jumping up from his seat.

"I'm staying here with Nebi." Arcas said, holding onto Nebi's stuffed dragon.

"I'll stay with Arcas and Nebi." Charlie said, holding Nebi close to him.

"Fair enough, I'm going down and maybe take some bread to Deneb." Altair said with a smirk, getting a chuckle from everyone else in the room.

"Well I'm coming down to Breakfast with you." Vega said, standing from her chair and stretching. "Come on."

"See you four in a bit. Arcas you are teaching later right?"

"Yes. I can't ignore my duties. Plus Charlie and mum will be here with Nebi."

"Okay. Will it be okay to tell Deneb to come on up to visit? I think he's getting bored being a swan."

"Sure, I have a free period first thing anyway."

The stars nodded and then left the room, once again not noticing the rat that ran out of the room with them.

--

Peter scurried through the hallways of Hogwarts, sticking to the shadows and alcoves, all too aware of Remus Lupin residing within those very walls.

He stopped and watched as Dumbledore hurried past him towards the Great Hall, followed closely by McGonagall.

"Headmaster, when are you going to call another Order meeting, it has been quite a while now since the last."

"I was letting them calm down about the whole Shaklebolt mess before calling a meeting."

"Well I think you need to call one soon. I know some members have some things they want to say."

"In that case my dear, I shall make sure that I will call one as soon as is possible. I also have a meeting with the Minister. He has some questions about the war and Harry Potter."

"Headmaster, when are you going to call the poor boy by his name? He is older than even you and yet you treat him like he is younger than a first year."

"My dear, that boy has to learn his place in this war and this world. I am just one trying to get him to see this."

Peter twitched when Dumbledore seemed to look towards his hiding place, and then let out a sigh when the two teachers carried on walking, soon out of hearing range for Peter.

After sitting in a shadow for a couple of minutes to ensure that the two teachers had indeed left and then carried on his journey out of the school and to his master.

--

"Where is young Mr Orsini this morning?" Dumbledore asked, leaning over to talk to Altair.

"He's hardly young. He's in his room anyway, he wanted to have breakfast with his family.

"Will he be teaching today, do you know?"

"He said he would be." Vega said vaguely.

"Will you two be teaching with him?"

"No, I don't think so. He hasn't got as far back as we remember, yet. He has no need for us in his classroom."

"Well it has been lovely talking to you Headmaster, but we have a swan to feed. You know how it is." Altair said, grabbing some bread and then standing and walking out of the hall, Vega following closely behind him.

--

"Wormtail! What did you find out?"

"M—my lord, I have found out where they keep the child."

"Where?"

"In their quarters, the child is not to be seen by any of the rest of the school, especially the students."

"Do the students know about the child?"

"It is my belief that they do my lord.

"What else have you learnt?"

"I know where the rooms are, so I can lead whoever it is you decide to take the child."

"Very good Wormtail."

"My lord. There is one more thing." Wormtail said, looking around the empty room nervously.

"What is that?"

"You have a spy, My Lord."

"What?"

"A spy. The Stars know of your plans regarding the child."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we will have to be even more careful with regards to taking the child."

"Did you find out who the spy is?"

"No my lord, they didn't say a name."

"Did they give any clue?"

"All they gave was a letter my lord."

"And what letter was that?" Voldemort asked through clenched teeth.

"B. My lord." Pettigrew stated quickly, noting the way Voldemort seemed to be stroking his wand.

"B? Is there anyone you think it may be?"

"My Lord, Severus is very close to Dumbledore. He is suspicious."

"Indeed, you are right. Well done for bringing me this news Pettigrew."

"Thank you My Lord."

"You may leave me now Pettigrew."

"Yes My Lord."

"Oh and Pettigrew?" Peter stoped and tensed, knowing what was coming next.

"Yes My Lord?"

"_Crucio_!"

--

"So then Deneb, excited about seeing little Nebi?" Vega asked, walking next to the tall white and brown haired, blue eyes male.

"Yep! Come on! I haven't seen little Arcas for ages!"

"He's not so little anymore, having a mate _and_ a child now. He's certainly ahead of you, mature Star wise." Altair pointed out.

"I have a mate."

"And yet you haven't cut your hair yet."

"So we're taking things slowly!"

"A century is more than a little slow." Altair said, nudging Deneb with his elbow.

"Let's go find Arcas."

"Fine, fine. Do you know how things are going?"

"No. Alrisha's mate, Sebastian, is with the elves, so Ev' has no need to be with them. He's staying in the constellation. Though, like the other mates, he has stated that he will come down once the place final battle has been stated." Deneb told them.

"We all know it will be here. Why both waiting?"

"We are waiting for Voldemort to choose. I heard that the vampires had chosen Voldemort's side."

"No. Not all of them. Only a few. Most of those supposedly on his side, are in fact on ours. Nero is one of them." Altair told them.

"Cool. So they will turn on his in battle?"

"Yes, they're also discreetly turning some of his followers to use as cannon fodder. Not all of them though. No need to make him suspicious."

"Do you have any clue as to who Callista's spy is?"

"Not a clue. I think he's the mate of another star."

"How'd you get that?"

"Who else would be this loyal to the stars?"

"True."

--

"So then Deneb, how are things with you and Ev doing?" Arcas asked, looking at Deneb who was sitting across from him, next to Callista.

"Why does everyone want to know about my relationship?"

"Maybe because you still have brown hair even after having been mated for over a century." Callista deadpanned.

"Well, maybe I like my brown hair."

"Doubt it." Vega muttered, getting a glare for her efforts.

"Anyway. How is the war effort going on?"

"Actually, I don't know if Altair told you about the Vampires."

"Yes, we know about them. Anything else, Dragons have joined us. Do you know whether or not the Centaurs have joined us?" Callista asked, looking at Deneb.

"Well Equuleus and Menes tried to get them to join, but it would seem they have decided to stay out of this war, which is fair enough. What have the humans ever done for them?"

"What have the humans done for _any _of the species fighting this war? Hopefully it will change the views humans have about some of these species."

"So do we have a clue as to where the final battle will be held?"

"Here." Callista stated sharply, glancing at Arcas.

"Why here? There are children here? Shouldn't it be somewhere safer for them?"

"He will come here because he wants you Arcas."

"Do you want me to go out and tell the others this?"

"Both you and Altair actually. Split who you are going to tell up and tell them to be prepared."

"Do you know when it will take place?" Altair asked, standing up with Deneb.

"Not exactly, but it will be soon. In fact, actually, I may have an idea to move it away from here."

"Where though?"

"What if we hit him first? That way, _we_ can decide where the battle will take place."

"Where if not here?"

"Arcas is right, there are children here. Tell them to be ready by the end of the week. We're moving this war up."

"Where though?"

"Riddle Manor of course."

--

"My followers! I have been informed that there is a spy within these ranks! Tell me where is Barty Crouch?"

"My Lord. No one knows where he is. He disappeared earlier today." A Death Eater told him, kneeling in front of him. Voldemort scowled and then looked around him at the rest of the Death Eaters.

"No matter. However, there is still the worry that the spy may be one of you! So tell me, _Severussss,_ ssstep forwardsss." Voldemort hissed, anger making his speech even more snakelike.

"Yes my lord?" Severus knelt in front of Voldemort, holding his head up high.

"It has come to my attention that _you_ might be the spy. What do you say to this?"

"My lord, this is not true. I have shown nothing but loyalty to you."

"This is true. However, I want to be sure."

"Of course my lord."

"I have a task to show your loyalty to me."

"Anything my lord."

"I want you to kidnap the Stars child."

"Yes milord."

"You have until the end of the week, work with Wormtail to kidnap the brat."

"Yes My Lord."

"That is all. You are all dismissed. And Severus?"

"Yes My Lord?"

"_Crucio!_" Voldemort held the curse for a couple a minutes before dropping it, looking at the now panting Potions master. "Don't fail me."

--

"Order! I call this meeting to order!" McGonagall looked at those gathered, once more without Dumbledore to head the meeting.

"Why are we meeting?" Percy asked, getting nods from around him.

"I thought I should just warn you that, first, the Stars have replied. They have given us their support in this war. In fact they have told Sirius of their plans. Sirius?"

"Yes, um... they are upping the stakes. The war will be over by the end of the week." This was followed by an uproar of voices all talking at once.

"Quiet! Silence!! Order!!!" McGonagall shouted, sitting back down once everyone had quietened and were now looking at her in shock. " Thank you. Now, Sirius, if you would continue?"

"Yes, as I was saying, the Stars have made plans to end the war by the end of the week. This is because You Know Who has shown an interest in someone on their side. They have decided to hit before You Know Who does."

"Have they said where they will be hittin?" Mundungus asked, looking somewhat sceptical.

"Yes. They said they would be hitting Riddle Manor. You Know Who's headquarters." Once again this brought about an uproar with the other members.

"Order! Thank you." McGonagall looked at the members in front of her. "There is nothing we can do about this. The Stars have a much larger force on their side. Now. One other matter I have brought you here for is Dumbledore. What are we going to do with him?"

--

**A/N – Well that's another chapter done... Things are now moving up. In fact, I think there is only another chapter or two left. For those who read my other fics, you know I'm not a very good writer of long stories... I think if this went on much longer than I have planned, that it will start to get boring. Plus I have ADD and get bored with too long stories! Lol! Sorry to those who wanted something longer! Please do review though and don't hate me!!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

The final battle, as many were calling it, wasn't held on the Friday, like many had been lead to believe, the Stars included. No. It all started on the Thursday morning before. It all began on that sleepy, frosty day in March. It didn't begin with the Stars raid on idle manor either. No, it began with a simple cry...

--

"Arcaaaas!" Arcas looked up at hearing that call from Deneb, confused as to why his friend was sounding so upset. And why he wasn't with Nebi seeing as Arcas had to teach and Charlie had gone back to discuss what to do with the Dragons, taking Thuban and Tertius with him to communicate with them.

"Deneb? Why are you here? Where's Nebi?"

"He's gone! I turned away for a second and he was gone! I've searched everywhere! He's gone!"

"What do you mean he's gone? I trusted you to look after him whilst I was teaching!"

"And I did, I have no idea how he disappeared! It's like someone knew I was going to be turning away and they waited."

"Well, doesn't that mean they might still be in the castle?"

"Tried that. Apparently, Sirius and Remus made a map once that showed them everyone in the castle. Nebi is no longer in the castle."

"You went to Sirius and Remus first? When did he disappear?"

"No! They bumped into me in the halls. They've gone to tell Dumbledore."

"Where's my mother?"

"Last I heard she was trying to contact Alethea out in the forest."

"I need her now. Right class dismissed. Read the next chapter or something. I don't really care right now. You. Take me to my mother." Arcas said looking at Deneb.

"Of course."

--

Once everyone had been told, there was an emergency meeting, held in the Great Hall once all the student had been sent to their common rooms, between the Stars and the Order, a meeting which was less jumbled than most would have assumed, much to Dumbledore's confusion.

Arcas sat at one end of the table, nibbling on his lips, hoping that Deneb came back with Charlie soon or he would completely lose it. Callista gently placed her hand on Arcas' shoulder and squeezed before standing up and getting the attention of the eerily quiet room.

"Right, so at approximately half past eleven this morning my grandson, Nebi was kidnapped from his rooms in this castle. We think that the kidnapper used a portkey as they disappeared almost straight away. We know that it is Voldemort who is behind this." Callista said, making the Order members in the room flinch and some to look confused.

"How can you say it is You Know Who for certain?" Dedalus Diggle asked, being one of the ones who was openly confused.

"I had a spy, one who has unfortunately disappeared since, who told me of Voldemort's plans to kidnap Nebi."

"So what are we going to do."

"Simple. We finish the war." Callista stated, much to many in the Order's shock.

--

"So we have the Vampires ready?" Callista asked Praecipua and Dede. Once everyone had gotten over the shock that the upcoming battle was indeed going to be the end Callista had turned to the Stars to discuss their allies.

"Yep. All ready and waiting to have some snacks." Dede coughed back a snigger at the horrified looks on many Order member's faces. "Joke. They are ready though. You just have to say the word and they will go in."

"The Dryads have spoken with the trees and they tell me that things are ready and just waiting, like the Vampires." Danae, mate of Betelgeuse, told everyone, blushing at the attention it brought.

"So does anyone know where we stand with the Were's?"

"The wolves have been on our side for a while now, though I'm unsure of what they are doing right now." Lupin told them, getting a nod from one of the Stars.

"The same goes for the rats. They are behind us and will be ready whenever we are." Vega told everyone

"Good, good. What about those within Voldemort's ranks?" Callista asked, turning to face a pale faced being with yellow eyes and white hair, which only made them look paler, sitting next to Altair.

"The vampires within Voldemort's ranks have been made aware of the situation and I myself have seen where they are keeping the child. Apparently he hasn't stopped making a fuss and it is beginning to give Voldemort a headache." The man, or Vampire, Nero, told them.

"Is my baby okay?" A small voice near Callista asked, making everyone in the room turn to face Arcas, most having forgotten he was even there.

"He's fine Arcy. Voldemort, for some reason, has a slight fear over harming Nebi. He is currently making the Death Eaters want to rip their hair out. I think he misses his daddies." Nero said soothingly, smiling softly at the seemingly very young Star.

"Where is Charlie?" Molly asked, wanting to take her son-in-law up and hug him. Never mind the dangers that would bring to herself.

"Deneb has gone to fetch him, hopefully bringing the Dragon's with him. We don't know when they will arrive though. Hopefully soon." Callista answered when it appeared that Arcas had no intention of answering, being too distressed to even know where he was.

"Well once he gets here, he'll be able to help Arcas." Vega said, glancing at her friend in worry.

"At least he's not trying to kill everyone in sight anymore."

"True."

"Right, back to the planning. We need a plan of action. We can't just run in there, guns blazing."

"Why not?" Castor asked, Pollux nodding in agreement next to him.

"Pardon?"

"Why can't we go in guns blazing?"

"Because it'll go wrong. It always does." Callista said, ignoring the sulks coming from the two twins.

"If he's hurt then we burn that manor down to the ground." Arcas muttered darkly, looking down at his hands and shocking people who had, once again, forgotten that he was there.

"Of course we will, and we'll do it even if he hasn't hurt Nebi. He will pay for messing with a Star. Or future star as the case happens to be." Callista told him reassuringly.

"So how are we going to start this?"

"Simple. We arrive at Riddle Manor."

--

"Bombs away!" The twin Stars called out as a large fire ball was the way in which they called attention to the beginning of the battle. The fireball hit the wards and exploded in a mass of liquid fire and sparks, falling to the ground slowly, as though sliding down an invisible wall. "Huh. Strong wards."

"Tell me about it." Bill grumbled, working furiously to finally take down the last ward, which was signalled by a purple light flashing where the wards fell.

"It's like a sci-fi movie." Alrisha muttered, gathering fire together as they noticed the Death Eaters running out of the manor like scattered ants.

"More like fantasy." Sirius the Star muttered just as the Vampires and Weres intercepted the first wave of Death Eaters in a vicious clash. Many limbs were ripped off and they all stood on the small hill over looking the battle watching, ready for any Death Eaters that managed to get past the vampires and weres.

"Chriminy it's a vicious battle down there." Alrisha said, throwing the ball of fire at a Death Eater that had managed to get through the vampires.

"You know, when the vampires turned on them, they really had no chance of winning this, did they?" Sirius asked, looking over the massacre as a vampire ripped the throat out of Avery.

"Nope. Where are the wizards? And Arcas?"

"Arcas and Charlie are with the dragons, just waiting. We need to get to Nebi." Callista told them, not taking her eyes away from the battle, taking place before them.

"So what do we do? Wait for Arcas?"

"Perhaps. I'm not sure what would be the best plan."

"Wait and let Arcas deal with the bastard." Alrisha said with a bloodthirsty smile on her face.

"Where are the elves?"

"Waiting for orders. Do you want to send them down?"

"No, we'll give the vampires a little more time to get it out of their systems. When they look like they are tiring we'll send in the elves."

"Where are the wizards?" Alrisha asked once more, looking around her, then sending another ball of fire into the group, getting angry shouts from a vampire the fire just missed.

"Please try not to fry our allies Alrisha. And the wizards are also waiting for word from us. We decided to not let them join this battle. Um... for some reason, our allies didn't trust them."

"So we're on our own with this?"

"Yup."

"So we can fight dirty?"

"Yep."

"Cool."

--

Arcas looked at Charlie with wide eyes, watching him interact with a large Ukrainian Vipertooth in awe.

"Charlie?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Nebi is okay?"

"I don't think Voldemort would dare harm him. Who knows what that would make you do."

"Kill him slowly."

"Right. You coming with me?"

"Yes."

"Come on then, I need to introduce you to Ethel."

"Ethel?"

"What?"

"You named her, didn't you?"

"Might have done."

"Thought so."

--

"So Charlie and Aracs are on their way over? How are they gonna explain that to the muggles?"

"Don't ask me. I just direct people." Callista said as they watched the vampires kill the last of the first wave of Death Eaters. Many other Death Eaters had managed to escape and run back into the manor. All in all they had lost almost half their number and the vampires had lost none. One wererat had been killed in the fight, which only made the other weres fight harder. Over all they had won this first battle, and if the anger of the Stars was anything to go by, then they would win the next and final battle as well.

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait. The vampires and weres can either wait here to see if they are needed, or they can leave. We still have the Elves and the Dragons. I think we will be alright without them."

"They might want to stay just to watch what happens. The wererats may want to even join in. They did lose one of their numbers."

"And they have every right wish for that right. They will get it as well, if that is what they want. They may be too tired though."

"I'll go and send Vega and Gemma to go and talk to them. At least the wards are down now."

"Yes, thank you little wizard."

"Hey, I'm not that little. I did it for Arcas and Charlie anyway." Bill told them, looking at the skies for his younger brother.

"Well that is lovely. At least we have found one decent wizard." Sirius said dryly

"Hush Sirius. Go and fetch Regulus, we can ask him what Aefen and Sebastian want to do with the elves."

"Ey ey captain." Sirius said, saluting Callista and walking off.

"I get the feeling he doesn't like me. What did he mean by one decent wizard. Does he not like Charlie either?"

"Oh he is completely indifferent towards Charlie, will be as long as he treats Arcas right, but Charlie isn't classed as a wizard anymore."

"What is he then?"

"Well if he chooses so, then he will become a star? Will he have to leave us behind?" Bill asked, eyes not leaving the sky as he watched for his brother.

"No. He can choose when he wishes to leave whenever he wishes. Most wait for loved ones to pass on before they leave." Callista told him softly.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait until Charlie and Arcas get here, then they can go inside to try and reach Nebi, whilst we start on the offensive once more. Now that you have taken down the wards, they will take hours to re-erect more wards. We will start to attack the main building."

"What about Nebi?"

"That is a risk we will have to take."

"Arcas won't like that."

"No. He won't."

--

Arcas and Charlie climbed off the back of the dragon and walked over to the waiting stars. Arcas smiled weakly when he saw his mother and Bill.

"Hey. What's the plan?"

"We distract while you and Charlie go inside."

"Right, good plan."

"So when do we go?"

"Whenever you are ready. If we send a ball of fire towards the manor beforehand, then you can go in when the DE's come out. It should clear the way a bit and I doubt Voldemort will come out so that'll mean you will have to deal with him."

"That doesn't matter. I want to be the one who deals with him." Arcas told them firmly.

"Alright then, we're ready when you are."

"Come on then, let's go get Nebi."

--

The second and largest wave of Death Eaters ran out of the manor only to be met by the elves and the Stars.

"Fire!" Sebastian yelled, watching as the archers shot their arrows down into the numbers, lowering them dramatically. "Ready!" The elves lowered their bows and the enxt line readied their weapons, moving forward before the archers, waiting for the Death Eaters to reach them.

It was a massacre. Sebastian dodged a curse sent his way and then thrust forward with his bowie knife, towards a Death Eater. The Death eater fell forward with a choked gurgle as Sebastian pulled his knife back out of the Death Eaters throat. He didn't have time to stop however, as another Death Eater came forward and he ducked the curse sent his way.

--

Charlie stopped Arcas before they entered the building and cast a charm on him to make him blend into the background, before casting the same spell on himself. Arcas reached out and grabbed Charlie's hand and then entered the building, making sure not to bump into any of the leaving Death Eaters.

Not letting go of his mate's hand, Arcas led the way through the dark hallways, trying to determine where Voldemort and Nebi would be. He stopped when Charlie tugged on his hand and pulled him out of the hallway and into the large bay window.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but we are going round in circles. Wait a minute and I'll find out where Nebi is."

"Okay, hurry up though. I want to find him."

"Will do. _Point me Nebi._" Charlie hissed, both watching when his wand span and then stopped, pointing them in the right direction. "Follow me."

"Okay." Arcas grabbed hold of Charlie's free hand and then followed behind him as Charlie ran through the halls, following the lead of his wand.

Arcas bumped into Charlie's back, when Charlie stopped suddenly. Looking up Arcas looked around him to see what had made them stop and then gasped when he saw the pair of large double doors, Charlie's wand pointing towards it.

--

Callista built up some fire between her palms and waited for a group of Death Eaters to separate away from the elves and the fighting going on.

"Think they have found Nebi yet?"

"I think we would know when Nebi has been found. Ah." Callista aimed at a group of Death Eaters looking to make their escape and threw the ball of fire of them, setting the group of five alight and watching in satisfaction as they ran around before falling to the ground, burnt to cinders.

"Are these all the Death Eaters left?"

"I don't think so. I think there are some of the inner circle inside, with their master."

"How do you know?"

"Have you seen Lucius Malfoy? A bit hard to miss that hair."

"Ah, you have a point." Sirius agreed, throwing another ball of flame in the way of another Death Eater trying to escape.

"Has the Weasley put up those anti-apparation wards?"

"Yes, they went up about five minutes ago. I can't wait for someone to try them."

"Why?"

"It'll splinch them."

--

"You think Nebi is in there?"

"That's where my wand is pointing."

"So what do we do? Just barge in?"

"Don't know. I suppose that would be the quickest way, but I think there will be quite a few wands in there, probably waiting for us to enter."

"Than what do we do?"

"I don't know."

"I'll cover you if you open the doors with a bang and then we go in."

"What can you do?"

"Not a lot, admittedly, but I can cover you with fire. It won't stop the unforgivables, but it will cover you for most others."

"I'm thinking that Avada Kedavra might be the favourite of curses being sent our way."

"They could be waiting for us."

"Shall I take the charms off of us?"

"Might as well. They're gonna know we're here very soon."

"Okay then. After three?" Charlie asked as he took the charm off of them both and making them visible to others.

"Okay."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

--

"Do you think they've found Nebi yet?"

"Please stop asking me that Sirius. How am I supposed to know?"

"You seem to know everything."

"Yes, well unless I was with my constellation, I don't know. And No. Me and Alethea cannot read each others minds. That is a myth."

"Fine. Fine. So this is boring, for a war I mean. The elves are pretty much handling everything." Sirius said as he sent another ball of fire to the outsides of the fighting, managing to hit on Death Eater that was on the outskirts of the fighting.

"I hope Nebi is alright."

"Arcas will be horrible to be with if he's not. But Voldemort may be killed all the more quickly."

"Actually I think Arcas would make him suffer slowly, especially if Nebi is dead."

"Let's not talk about that, we can only hope now."

--

"Mr Potter. I have been expecting you." Arcas stopped in the doorway and glanced at Voldemort, who had Nebi lying asleep in front of him, chains around his wrists keeping him in place.

"What have you done to him?" Arcas asked, not taking his eyes off of Nebi as he made his way into the room, Charlie staying close behind him.

"Nothing. Yet. I just needed to make him be quiet. It is just a simple spell to get his to sleep."

"Nothing? He was scared! That's why he was crying!"

"Scared, well yes, I suppose so."

"You're a monster."

"Really?"

"Yes! I can't believe you!" Arcas cried out, glaring at Voldemort, who nudged Nebi out of the way and stepped away from him throne and into the centre of the room.

"Now now, I have some thing I want to ask you."

"Oh?"

"How about you join me? We can be great together. I'll even let your little family live."

"Not a chance."

"Then I have no other choice." Voldemort said, mockingly sad as he turned around and pointed his wand at Nebi.

Arcas watched Voldemort move, almost in slow motion as he raised him wand to Nebi. Arcas blanched at the movement and then ran forward, knocking Voldemort away from Nebi and knocking him to the ground, landing on top of him.

"Arcas!" Charlie moved forward to help Arcas, but was stopped when Malfoy shot a curse at him, making him dodge the hex and then return fire back to him and the other three Death Eaters in the room.

Arcas, whilst Charlie was fighting the other Death Eaters, was still on top of a stunned Voldmeort, making a snap decision, he leant forward and placed his hands on Voldemort face, taking pleasure in the pained yells coming from Voldemort as his skin was burnt away.

Building up his control of fire, which was still very little compared his mother or Alrisha, he brought it into his hands and watched as Voldemort, thrashing slightly, was burnt slowly in font of his eyes.

When all that was left was ashes, Arcas stepped away and looked back to Charlie, checking to see if he was okay. The Death Eaters he had been fighting, were writhing on the floor, clutching at their arms where the Dark Mark had been.

"He's dead?"

"Yes."

"Nebi?"

"He's asleep." Arcas said, leaning down and picking up the small werepanther, burning away the chains holding the little boy down.

"Come on then, let's get back to the others, we can have the Aurors pick up these four." Charlie said, indicating to the now tied up Death Eaters.

"Okay. Come on."

--

"He dead?"

"He's dead. There are many Death Eaters waiting to be picked up by your esteemed Aurors." Callista told a stunned Rufus Scrimgoer.

"How?"

"How what? How did he die? I don't know that I'm afraid, just that he is dead. The Death Eaters will be able to tell you that that is true."

"Right. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Sort of Albus Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore? What has _he_ done?"

"You know exactly what he has done. He conspired against us and tried to keep a star away from his mate. Be careful how you deal with this, I know you're not exactly innocent when it comes down to it."

"Of course. I'll see to it right away."

--

"This is the hearing of Alubs Dumbledore, on crimes against the public, conspiring against an magical creature and their mate and conspiracy against the ministry."

"Dumbledore, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"Is it true that you willingly tried to keep one Arcas Weasley nee Orsini, also known as Harry James Potter, away from one Charles Weasley, Mr Orsini's mate."

"I did it for the greater good."

"What good could have been made by keeping a star away from his mate?"

"It would have helped the war."

"Is it not true, however, that your actions, could have hindered the war effort had the Stars decided against fighting?"

"Well... yes. I suppose that could have happened."

"So why do it?"

"But it didn't happen, did it?"

"You planned, with full knowledge on what you were doing, to keep a star, and a very important race in this war, away from it's mate in the hopes that he would come to you, correct?"

"Yes. I needed Harry to be on my side."

"And keeping him away from his mate would have done this?"

"Yes."

"That is all your honour."

--

"Albus Wufric Brian Percival Dumbledore, facing the evidence against you, I have no choice but to sentence you to life within the walls of Saint Mungoes for the mentally unstable. If you should ever show signs of not being mentally impaired, you will follow out the rest of your sentence within Azkaban." Madam Bones said, banging her hammer down on the sentence. Ignoring the outcry her sentence brought about.

Arcas watched from the stalls, smirking when Dumbledore, who looked far too smug before the sentence, realised exactly what was happening to him. Dumbledore finally looked his age and sagged in his seat.

"Well not the sentencing I was hoping for, but it\s something I suppose." Callista said from beside Arcas. Charlie grunted in agreement from Arcas' other side.

"He should have been sent straight to Azkaban." Charlie said, glaring at Dumbledore.

"Had he been younger, then he would have been, but well... he is getting on a bit." Callista told them.

"Hmm. Well it's over now."

"Indeed it is."

"So what are we gonna do now?"

"Simple, we move on with our lifes."

--

Five Years Later

Arcas walked down the path of the cottage he shared with Charlie in Romania. Being a Star, he still had to return for a small time every month, leaving Charlie and Nebi alone for about a week each time.

He had been late to return this time, having to sort out a problem with trying to find more light for his tail star. It had taken him almost a week longer than it normally took.

He hated leaving Charlie and Nebi behind but it had to happen. Once in a while he took Nebi with him, trying to get the shy little werepanther used to being alone up there.

They had sorted out how they would deal with the situation. With help from Callista, they had the cottage and Charlie got to live with his dragons.

Dumbledore had died inside of Saint Mungo's the year before, taking a weight from off of his shoulders. He and Charlie had gotten to know each other better and the eight year old Nebi had grown into a lively, if shy, little boy who enjoyed playing with his daddies.

The rest of the Weasley's visited often, Molly Weasley doting on Nebi as her first grandchild, not that she hadn't been given more from Bill and Fleur and Ron and Hermione, who had got married after their first year, their first child nearly a year old now.

McGonagall had become the new headmistress of Hogwarts, as many had expected, rising to the challenge and becoming one of the schools most fair and most liked headmistresses the school had ever had.

Snape had been found to be one of the four Death Eaters left in the room with Voldemort's remains, and was now serving a life sentence in Azkaban.

Arcas loved his life, loved having a mate that he could finally share his life with. He loved that he was no longer lonely, the cursed life of the star something he had managed to put behind him. He only hoped that Nebi found his mate before he became a star and didn't have to live the same cursed life that every other Star did. His one regret was cursing his son with the same life as himself.

**A/N – Well here it is. The end. I was actually going to kill Nebi off. That's how I wrote it the first time, I just didn't like what it did to Arcas though, so Nebi lived. Yay! So tell me what you think and in the mean time, um... shameless plug here, but the next fic in my Reaper series is out now! Yay! And can I hear a yay for the fact that I have the internet again! Yay! No money! Woo! Lol!**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this, the response I have received is amazing, and very unexpected. Thank you and thank you for the support I have received for this also. Seriously, thank you! **


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